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SPANISH LALIGA SANTANDER;



  

   Battle line has been drawn.


   The 2016/2017 Spanish league season kicked off over the weekend and club sides are already gearing up for a new challenge. There were impressive wins for Barcelona and arch rivals, Real Madrid while Atletico Madrid stumbled at home. A thrilling 10 goal procession was recorded at Stadio Pizjuan as Sevilla triumphed 6-4 over Espanyol, while Malaga were held to a draw by newly promoted Osasuna. Celta Vigo were handed a shock  as newly promoted Leganes, conjured a 1-0 win at the Beledios. Elsewhere, Valencia continued their poor form from last season with an embarrassing 2-4 loss to Las Palmas at the Mestella. Deportivo won at home to Eibar while Athletic Bilbao  lost at Gijon.


 The battle line of course has been drawn as the race for champion begins in earnest.  The MSN of Barcelona, which romped to a combined staggering 90 goal return, were not complete on Saturday with Neymar away at Rio ,were he just led the Seleccao to an Olympic gold in the men's football category. However, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez stood in gap with the five time balloon d'or winner netting a brace while Suarez recorded his first hattrick of the season as he chases another golden boot. Arda Turan who was signed from rivals, Atletico Madrid opened the scoring as the blaugrana began their title defence with a 6-2 rout of Real Betis at the Nou Camp. Luis Enrique's men are hot favourites to retain the title and have done some good business in the market, to give the squad more depth. It was a very impressive win as some key players were missing. The likes of Andres Iniesta, Neymar, and Macherano were not in the squad. It was a good way to start the season as they would be hoping for another treble.


Zinedine Zidane,who oversees his first full la liga season, saw los blancos get off to a flying start at the Anoeta with a 3-0 win over Real Sociedad. Gareth Bale got a brace on the night, while academy graduate Marco Asensio got one. The European champions were also missing a host of first team figures with double european champion, Cristiano Ronaldo only returning from injury recently while Karim Benzema, Keylor Navas, Luka Modric and Pepe all sat out due to injuries. Alvaro Morata made his first liga appearance since his return from Juventus as Real began their title bid on a sound note. The Santiago Bernabeu outfit had a terrible start to last season and are out to banish the demons.


Atletico Madrid were held at the Vincente Calderon by newly promoted Alaves in a shocking result. Los Coloncheros could not break the little known visitors down till the 90th minute, when debutant, Kevin Gamiero netted from the spot only for Alaves to get an immediate equaliser. The host were without star forward, Antoine Griezmane , who led France to the finals of the last Euros. It is not an impressive start for Diego Simeone's men who would trail Barca and Madrid. It is not a pretty place to start.

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