La Liga’s early title race begins to gather pace this weekend as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid return to action in a packed Matchday 3 programme.
The round runs from Friday to Monday, with Spain’s traditional heavyweights facing different tests as they look to build early-season momentum.
Friday’s action opens with Racing hosting Elche before Alaves welcome Villarreal, who will be looking to build on last season’s strong campaign and establish themselves among the leading challengers.
Saturday brings three fixtures, with Betis travelling to newly promoted Levante before Real Sociedad host Espanyol.
Espanyol coach Manolo González has called for greater control and patience from his players this season.
“We want us to control games this season… now we want to attack with more patience to reduce the energy spent running without the ball,” González said.
The standout Saturday fixture sees Sevilla welcome Atletico Madrid to the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan.
Diego Simeone will hope Julian Alvarez can provide the attacking spark despite mounting transfer speculation around the Argentine star as Atletico seek to stay within touching distance of their title rivals.
“We are very happy to have a footballer like Julián. We will help him to keep growing, to keep improving, and to keep giving us the best of what he has given us,” Simeone said.
Attention then shifts to the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday, where Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid host Malaga.
Mourinho believes his side is beginning to develop the cohesion required to challenge for the title.
“We’re playing as a team, and there’s empathy, there’s teamwork. The team is starting to look like a team,” he said.
Deportivo host Valencia later on Sunday before Celta Vigo take on Athletic Bilbao.
Barcelona close the round on Monday when they welcome Rayo Vallecano, with Hansi Flick demanding that the defending champions maintain last season’s standards.
“There’s intensity and quality in training. I see the team raising its level and that’s the most important thing,” Flick said. “We have to work hard to maintain the level of last season.”
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