Could Villa be Atleti's trump card?

By David Lee Wheatley

Atletico Madrid began the season impressively with an away victory at Sevilla last weekend, before drawing one-all with Barcelona in the Super Cup first leg. Last night, they turned Rayo Vallecano over at the Vicente Calderon with an easy 5-0 win rounding-off an encouraging opening week for the capital club.

There were fears regarding the fall-out from the loss of superstar striker Radamel Falcao to Monaco this summer, but Atleti's form has allayed those worries thus far. Diego Costa stepped up to the mark in front of goal with a double in Seville and another strike yesterday evening, while Turan and Raul Garcia also look the part.

Bargain signing David Villa has been highly influential after moving from Barcelona and managed to score against his former club during the midweek Super Copa fixture with a fabulous volley. Although he hasn't scored in the two league matches played up to now, he's been heavily involved in much of Atletico's best football and helped his new team to a 100% start to the La Liga campaign.

Falcao is undoubtedly one of the finest strikers on the planet, but the Spanish international all-time top scorer is proving an able replacement. Villa suffered a broken leg during his time at Camp Nou that cost him several months of his career and certainly seems to have stolen a yard of pace from the 31-year-old; despite all of that, his supreme positional play and eye for goal still make him a dangerous forward for opposition defences to contend with.

Head coach Diego Simeone has several attacking talents to call upon, including ex-Rayo man Leo Baptistao currently sitting on the bench. If he can keep major players fit this season, Atletico could be in with a strong shout of a top-three finish. Also, they have the Copa del Rey to defend, which Simeone will be massively keen to retain.

Last evening's comfortable trouncing of Rayo provided stark evidence of the ability within the Atletico squad and should cause concern even amongst the ranks of their most illustrious opponents Barcelona and local rivals Real Madrid. Simeone possesses a motivated side with the added guile of David Villa in a well-balanced forward line, which gives the team a chance of winning any match they take part in.

It would send the loudest message yet to other La Liga clubs around them should Atletico wrest the Super Copa away from Barcelona this week. And, in their spectacular current form, who'd bet against them?

Twitter: @davewh1980

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Round-up: La Liga week 1

 

By David Lee Wheatley

The Spanish league campaign got underway last weekend as top two sides in the country Barcelona and Real Madrid both recorded victories in their opening day fixtures.

Saturday’s action set the scene for week one, with Real Sociedad warming up for their Champions League qualifier with Lyon by easing to a win over Getafe 2-0. Former Arsenal man Carlos Vela gave them a precious first-half lead and Seferovic finished the job with twenty minutes remaining. Fellow Basque side Athletic Bilbao beat Valladolid 2-1 away, with goals from Susaeta and Muniain coming either side of an equalising strike by Ebert. And, having narrowly missed out on a Champions League qualification spot last season, Valencia started well when overcoming Malaga 1-0 at home thanks to Ricardo Costa.

Reigning champions Barcelona started their title defence by putting Levante to the sword in spectacular fashion during Gerardo Martino’s first league outing as head coach at Camp Nou, with a stunning 7-0 thrashing handed out. Alexis got things going with a 3^rd-minute strike, extraordinarily followed by another five before half-time from Lionel Messi (2, 1 pen), Dani Alves, Pedro and Xavi. The Blaugrana took it easy on their visitors in the second period, scoring just once through Pedro for his double to round off a truly sumptuous display.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid didn’t enjoy proceedings all their own way against battling opponents Real Betis, as the Andalusia side took an early advantage through Molina to shock the Bernabeu with quarter-of-an-hour gone. It seemed to wake the hosts into life and Karim Benzema slotted home a low shot from the left-hand of the penalty area to level the tie eleven minutes later. Real toiled until four minutes from time, when new boy Isco rose majestically to power a header past the keeper, thus handing Los Blancos a key victory, even at this very early stage of the season.

Other results on Sunday saw Granada nick three points away to Osasuna with a 2-1 scoreline and Atletico Madrid defeated a much-changed Sevilla 3-1 away, thanks to an impressive double from former Liverpool target Diego Costa, plus a 90^th-minute hit from Rodriguez to end the match as a contest. Perotti brought Sevilla level after Diego Costa’s opener, but the home side simply couldn’t live with their dangerous foes and duly crumbled as the clash progressed.

There were three fixtures scheduled for Monday evening featuring a glut of goals; Rayo Vallecano trounced Elche 3-0 at home, newly-promoted sides Almeria and Villarreal met in a 3-2 away win for the Yellow Submarine and Celta Vigo and Espanyol shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw.

It all represents a fantastic opening round of matches in La Liga for a season that promises great excitement in the months ahead.

Twitter: @davewh1980

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