The wonderful thing about the first game of any season is the wholly unrealistic feeling that all supporters harbour that this year will be better than the last. It matters not that the club has made no significant signings, played poorly in pre-season and retained certain declining players who perhaps should have been shown the door – because the sun is shining, the grass is snooker-table green and the whole season lies ahead. One can but dream.
The problem is that Real Sociedad and Betis had been paired for their opening games against Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively. Someone has to play them. Sociedad were at home, and the city they represent was just ending its week-long ‘Semana Grande’ [Big Week], its annual August festival which this year was even bigger than usual, mixed in with the fact that San Sebastian is the 2016 European City of Culture. In short, it felt festive and all was well until Gareth Bale decided to poop the party, in exactly 73 seconds. Dani Carvajal crossed placidly from the right, and up popped Gareth to bullet a header inside Gero Rulli’s left-hand post and end the feel-good factor before the band had even tuned up. The shirt-sleeved crowd greeted Bale’s goal with silent resignation as the Welshman bounced up and down jubilantly by the corner flag, like an errant child misbehaving at a funeral. Bale has now scored on each of his four consecutive visits to Anoeta. Maybe it’s the Welsh legacy left there by John Toshack, floating unseen but nevertheless visible to a fellow dragon.
Perhaps on a rain-soaked afternoon in mid-winter, with a hostile Basque wind howling down from the Pyrenees and the home players already bloodied by months of toil and competition, the comeback would have started immediately. Real Madrid have come unstuck here on occasions in the last few years, and on Sunday they were missing several of their most prominent actors – Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, Pepe, Keylor Navas….but in the end the game was a serene stroll in the park, a gentle summer’s evening confirmation of their own utter superiority over opposition like Sociedad. They will have flown home late Sunday night in a buoyant mood, partly because they themselves can still dream but also because some less habitual players responded wonderfully to the occasion. Marco Asensio, home from his loan spell at Espanyol, scored a fantastic second goal courtesy of a sumptuous pass from Rafa Varane, himself attempting to re-establish his presence alongside Sergio Ramos. Asensio’s movement to break the offside trap and his subsequent chip were top class but his performance in general was excellent, as was that of fellow returnee Alvaro Morata.
Sociedad paid homage to Dalian Atkinson.
I hate to say it, but Real Madrid, on the few occasions that it is possible to keep Ronaldo off the pitch, look a better side without his pouting and preening presence, glaring at those who fail to pass to him, shooting when he should pass, and passing when he should shoot – forever gathering the attention to himself. Bale seems liberated in his absence, Morata is a potent and intelligent player, and the whole collective looks much more focused, much more together. Maybe we are seeing the first glimpses of the post-Ronaldo era. Real Madrid have only won a single league title from the last nine [in 2012]. Ronaldo has scored a lot of goals though. Draw your own conclusions.
Then again, Sociedad played poorly. Instead of racking up the intensity, they allowed Real Madrid to run the show by virtue of the visitors’ greater aggression, pressing high-line and greater fitness. Madrid looked like a posse of swift thoroughbreds, playing a team of directionless ponies. When the wily campaigner Xavi Prieto replaced the anonymous Juanmi on 70 minutes, Sociedad began to look more coherent, moving the promising but rather green Mikel Oyarzabal to striker, getting the ball into him and making it stick. But it was just a mild distraction for Ramos and Varane. Gareth Bale scored a third right at the end, effectively opening and closing the show. It might be too soon to judge the home side on this performance, but they looked disconnected and bereft of ideas. Next week they travel to newly-promoted neighbours Osasuna, who picked up a decent draw on their return at Malaga. It won’t be an easy game for the visitors.
Barcelona took slightly longer to sour Betis’ opening day – six minutes to be precise, when Arda Turan’s goal continued to make him look a different player from last season’s uninspired version. And although Betis equalised through the evergreen Ruben Castro, Leo Messi decided to have one of his exhibition days, running into the playground with the ball and resolving to keep it for himself. By the 82nd minute it was 6-1, Messi had two, Luis Suarez a hat-trick, and it was business as usual. Castro scored again before the end to slightly sully Claudio Bravo’s leaving party, but Barcelona themselves, without Neymar and Andres Iniesta, went home happy with their opening day’s work. Betis, under the new management of Gus Poyet, should also take the result as philosophically as possible and look forward to the greater possibilities at home to Deportivo next Friday.
Real v Real tonight, in Anoeta. Polishing up the motorbike to take me there. Life has some meaning again......
— Phil Ball (@PhilBallTweets) August 21, 2016
There have been some rumblings over summer that La Liga was losing out to the English Premier League, not only with regard to the relative amount of money sloshing about over there but also in terms of excitement and unpredictability. Leicester City’s exploits, Gary Lineker presenting Match of the Day in his underpants, Pep Guardiola versus Jose Mourinho – how could La Liga compare and compete? Judging by the opening day, quite well thank you. Quite apart from the glut at the Camp Nou there was also a goal-fest at Sevilla, where the home side emerged 6-4 victors over Espanyol in a quite astonishing game. The most amusing aspect of the result was the fact that during pre-season and in the Super Copa games that Sevilla contested [in vain] against Barcelona, the conclusion was that the Andaluz outfit had failed to replace Kevin Gameiro and would struggle for goals this season. So much for journalists eh? Luciano Vietto scored twice and is looking to prove himself this season after disappointing at Atletico last campaign. Espanyol will have been appalled to concede so may on the first day under Quique Sanchez Flores’ new leadership but watch out for them this season, because they have rebuilt well.
Atletico Madrid, still the only pretender to the Barca-Madrid throne, will be enormously disappointed with their opening home draw to newly-promoted Alaves, the equaliser coming from the visitors in the 95th minute. This was all the more extraordinary for following on two minutes after the opener in the 93rd minute, a penalty from the aforementioned Gameiro.
Finally, there is still much to improve in La Liga, whether or not the Premier League is taking over the universe. Angel Maria Villar, the President of the Spanish Federation since 1988, ex-acting president of UEFA and vice-president of FIFA has managed to accrue a lot of titles by doing very little, it would seem. He was also obviously too busy to organise Barcelona’s receipt of last season’s league trophy at the appropriate time, managing to finally turn up for the Betis game and hand the trophy to the players. Complaints about the match-by-match Friday to Monday staggered nature of the league also appears to have fallen on deaf ears, and the campaign opened last Friday with the usual suspects shuffled into a quiet corner of summer, Malaga v Osasuna (1-1) and Deportivo v Eibar (2-1). Leganes will be equally rewarded for reaching the top flight for the first time in their 86-year history by being shunted off to Celta on a Monday night. Thanks a bunch. And Sunday’s game at Gijon between Sporting and Athletic Bilbao was stopped for a short while due to racist chanting towards Inaki Williams, the visiting forward. As an ex-Athletic player, perhaps Villar will speak out, but most likely he will not.
So – lots of goals and entertainment, but still room for improvement as the season gets under way. Everyone is still entitled to dream that this is their year.
