La Liga, one of club football’s most compelling competitions, kicks off today. The long campaign begins with Deportivo Alaves hosting Getafe at 11:30 p.m. Bangladesh time. Neither of the league’s two giants feature in the opening week, however. Barcelona will begin their pursuit of a hat-trick of titles against Elche at 1:30 a.m. on August 24. Their eternal rivals Real Madrid open their campaign against Espanyol at 1:30 a.m. on August 23. Atletico Madrid, regarded as the league’s third force, take the field against Malaga at 1 a.m. on August 20.
The Real-Barca fixtures are starting later because most players from both clubs are fatigued after playing at the World Cup. Their matches have been pushed back roughly a week to give them adequate rest. Barcelona’s German coach Hansi Flick takes the field facing a different kind of challenge this season. Four Barcelona coaches in the 21st century have won consecutive La Liga titles in their first two seasons in charge. Of them, only Pep Guardiola went on to win a hat-trick of league titles. Can Hansi Flick match him? The task looks set to be extremely difficult, since Barcelona must begin the league without a recognized center forward.
Barcelona had long ago all but sealed a deal for Argentine striker Julian Alvarez, but the move collapsed after Atletico Madrid dug in and refused to sell. The club has already let veteran forward Robert Lewandowski go, and Ferran Torres, who scored in the World Cup final, has also departed for PSG. With no replacement yet in place to fill that gap, Barcelona currently has no recognized center forward. Hansi Flick and sporting director Deco are scrambling to find one. In the end, they are trying to bring in Colombian forward Luis Suarez from Sporting Lisbon. Negotiations are also ongoing with Manchester City over the transfer of Rodri, winner of the World Cup Golden Ball. Beyond that, Barcelona retain Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Pedri, Gavi, Dani Olmo, and Cubarsi. They have also signed young German forward Karim Adeyemi from Borussia Dortmund.
To wrest away Barcelona’s hat-trick of titles, Real Madrid have handed the coaching reins to Jose Mourinho for the first time in 13 years. The club has also been extremely active in the transfer market. As Mourinho wanted, Real have already signed World Cup-winning left-back Marc Cucurella from Chelsea, French center-back Ibrahima Konate from Liverpool, Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva from Manchester City, and right-back Denzel Dumfries from Inter Milan. They have also brought in young Ivorian talent Yann Diomande from Leipzig for a club-record transfer fee of 140 million euros.
Most importantly, Mourinho refused to break up the Kylian Mbappe-Vinicius Junior partnership. With the impasse over Vinicius’s new contract now resolved, the pair will take the field with renewed energy. That Mbappe, winner of back-to-back World Cup Golden Boots, is the brightest star in Real’s constellation needs no further explanation. Vinicius is not far behind — his new contract itself proves how important the Brazilian star is to Real Madrid. Jude Bellingham, who scored 7 goals for England at the last World Cup, is no less important either. Real’s mission to reclaim the title rests on this trio.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report