Maybe this fellow would prefer to be overlooked.

Of course, some of the kinks still have to be worked out.  For instance, they’ve installed referees behind the goals again, to try to get more calls correct.  Apparently, since Michel Platini still can’t program his DVD player, he’s against technology in any form.  So, humans it is.

The problem is that Platini refers to the system as a five man team.  Prior to this innovation, there was a referee, two linesman and a fourth official on the sidelines, to usher substitutes in and out, announce the added time and be given the hairdryer treatment by the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Big Sam Allardyce.  If you add two more officials to four, don’t you get six?  I suppose that he might be forgetting the so-called fourth official but even if you do (1,2,3,5,6) you still come out with six.

Never mind, though.  It won’t be important until they start getting the calls wrong, which by my watch should be in about 4 days time.  Meanwhile, we’ve broken down the 12 groups of 4 teams, to give you an idea of what to expect, other than an uncertain amount of officials missing obvious calls while Michel Platini tries to load the special features on his Escape To Victory Director’s Cut disc.

Read on, my friend, read on.

Group A

Manchester City will have two clear goals this season.  Ultimately, the campaign won’t be a success unless they finish top 4 in the EPL to qualify for next season’s Champions League.  Until then, Sheikh Mansour would look upon it favourably if Roberto Mancini were to secure a Europa League trophy, as an appetiser for things to come.  Although, when you consider that City has enough star power in their squad to field a pair of starting elevens that could win the FA Cup and the Europa League Final, on the same day if necessary, that last sentence may not have come off as sarcastic as intended.

Luigi Del Neri has had a busy summer preparing for his first season in charge of Juventus.  He has trimmed much of the deadwood from his squad, most notably saying goodbye to David Trezeguet and Mauro Camoranesi.  Milos Krasic has come to Turin to spread the attack and Alberto Aquilani, as well, to rediscover himself after a lost season in Liverpool.  Del Neri has retained a solid core of veterans, led by Giancarlo Buffon and Alessandro del Piero ,to keep the Old Lady relevant and they should still be in the competition after the holidays.

The Red Bull Salzburg squad takes a lot of stick for being human product placement but you have to give the energy drink corporation due credit for their commitment to building winning sides.  The Austrian version doesn’t have a Thierry Henry or a Rafa Marquez to soak in taurine, although midfielder David Mendes da Silva can kick a ball around.  Other than the Dutchman, it’s a largely anonymous squad but their betters in this group should keep in mind that the Red Bulls have run through the Austrian Bundesliga in 3 of the last 4 seasons.

If the Austrians are anonymous, then Jacek Zielinski’s Lech Poznan are the invisible men.  Having just won their first Ekstraklasa crown in 17 years, the Poles will draw on their UEFA Cup 3rd round adventure of two years ago, going down gamely in the end to the black and white of another Serie A side, Udinese.  Still, a betting man will have them going home, at least able to boast that they’ve played in Manchester and Turin.

Group B

For the second year running, La Liga can boast a continental champion.  Unfortunately, it isn’t Barca or Real and it isn’t in the Champions League.  Atletico Madrid, on the back of World Cup Golden Ball recipient, Diego Forlan, held off first Liverpool and then Roy Hodgson’s Fulham FC, to win the 2010 Europa League.  With Simao Sabrosa and Sergio Kun Aguero as holdovers and young guns Diego Costa and Fran Merida, and a hungry Tiago Mendes added to the squad, los Colchoneros are primed for another deep Europa League run.

Bayer Leverkusen were a force for most of the last Bundesliga campaign.  Sadly, they didn’t finish as strongly as they began.  They’ll have to start the new season without dynamic midfielder Toni Kroos, recalled by Bayern, but there is hope.  Michael Ballack is back in the Bundesliga and determined to lead Leverkusen’s (and Germany’s!) youngsters for the foreseeable future.  With Patrick Helmes and Stephane Kieβling, the future may be now for the Westphalia outfit.

**Editor’s note:  Hope has been put off in Leverkusen, as Ballack suffered a micro fracture just above his ankle trying to win a 50/50 ball during a 2-2 draw vs Hannover 96, on Saturday.  It was later announced he’ll be out 6 weeks.

Aris Thessalonika finished 4th in the Greek Super league in 09-10 and Rosenborg BK are the defending Norwegian champions.  Without the type of talent that Atleti and Leverkusen boast, it’s hard to see either side challenging to move on.  As for which will finish third, I’ll go with Aris, with one proviso:  if they play the utterly out of form American striker and former wunderkind, Freddy Adu, I’m switching my vote to the Nordic side.

Group C

Group C is not as clear cut as A and B.  The two major clubs are not as dominant and the two minor sides can be stubborn at times.  Over-all,Sporting CP (who inexplicably dislike being referred to as Sp. Lisbon) have the most talent and, if they can live up to it for once, should win out.  The Lisbon based club are solid in midfield and attack, featuring veterans Liedson and Maniche along with the Chilean duo of Matias Fernandez and Jaime Valdes.  Pedro Mendes will anchor the midfield, having returned home from an extended stay in the UK.  Hopefully, his presence will reassure an inconsistent back line.

Lille OSC finally opened up and earned a win in Ligue 1, this weekend, playing Lens off their own pitch 4-1.  Prior to that, they had 4 draws in their opening 5 matches.  Veterans Pierre-Alain Frau and Ivorian Gervinho each notched a brace.  If they can continue to exhibit that type of finishing, to accompany their solid defensive shape, they may live up to the pre-season hype  they were feted with in France and take this group away from the Portuguese.

If nothing else, Levski Sofia have one of the most interesting club badges in the competition.  The Bulgarian club is a perennial power in their home league, with 26 league titles and 30 domestic cups but, continentally, have remained minor players.  They’ve made the quarters of the UEFA Cup, in 06, and the 3rd round of the CL, in 02, but otherwise have just made the groups stages once in each, during the decade.  Yet, the Blue Avalanche are a solid, consistent squad, who could take a result if an opening is given them.

KAA Gent seem to have some issues with geography.  The Belgian side, based in East Flanders, sport an Indian Chief badge and are known as the Buffaloes.  This wild west influence almost has me pulling for them to progress but only if UEFA are willing to rig the draw, as it’s often alleged they do, to guarantee a tie against Moldovan club Sheriff Tirsapol.  It could happen.  Although the Buffs were shot down by Roma, 10-2 on aggregate in 09, they qualified this time by surprising Dutch power Feyenoord, 2-1 over two legs.  Still, it’s a long shot.  Maybe the two clubs will arrange a friendly, with Kevin Costner (Dances With Wolves) and Clint Eastwood serving as honourary captains!

Group D

Villareal may not have the depth of the other Spanish powers but they at least have a strong spine.  The defence is anchored by Carlos Marchena and Argentine Gonzalo Rodriguez and the venerable Marcos Senna links them to the attack.  Senna has options to the right and left in Cani and Santi Cazorla on the wings, well supported by Joan Capdevila.  Up front are Giuseppe Rossi and Nilmar.  The Yellow Submarine surely has the firepower to torpedo the rest of the group.

The second ticket out of Group D is available for the taking.  Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb seem the most seasoned of the three competitors.  Their domestic dominance has carried over into the 3rd round of the Champions League five times since 2000 and thrice into the groups stages in the old UEFA Cup format.

Greece’s PAOK Salonica will rely on a legend, as well, only they’ve had to sign theirs away from rivals Panathanaikos.  Dmitrios Salpigidis has come home to Thessalonika, where he scored 50 goals in 112 matches, as a youth, before moving on to score 25 for Kavala and 46 for Panathanaikos, in 155 matches combined.  At just 29, time is still on his side.

Club Brugge‘s European pedigree is much further in the past, having lost a European and UEFA Cup final, both to Liverpool, in the mid 70′s.  Perhaps the legends of the past can inspire the current squad.  The Belgians are definite outsiders but it’ll be interesting to see who’s alongside Villareal when the dust clears.

Group E

If any Chelsea fans are wondering what happened to Andriy Schevchenko (probably not), the 34 year old is back home, as captain of Dynamo Kyiv.  The Ukraine side are the chief rivals of Shakhtar Donetsk and just as deadly.  It was Kyiv whom Donetsk defeated to reach the UEFA Cup final in 2009.  While age may have slowed the BFF of Roman Abramovich, Sheva has support.  Artem Milevskiy and young Brazilian Guilherme, just recalled from CSKA Moscow can both find the twine.  The rest of the group will soon find that Dynamo are still an explosive side.

AZ Alkmaar are a year removed from their stunning Eredivisie triumph, under Louis van Gaal.  After a slack start to 09-10, new man Ronald Koemann was sacked.  Somehow, his replacement, Dick Advocaat, managed to salvage a 5th place finish and a return to Europe.  Advocaat has also moved on and it’s Gertjan Verbeek’s turn to squeeze blood from the stone.  The club doesn’t have an established striker and the attacking midfield is headed by Aussie Bret Holman, who flourished under Advocaat after being largely ignored by van Gaal.  Still consistency doesn’t seem to be a necessity at AZ.

The old saying that there’s a new sheriff in town was tailor made for Moldovia side Sheriff Tiraspol.  The club was founded in 1997 and has championed every season it has spent in the Moldovian top flight.   If that smells fishy to you, you’re not the only one.  The ownership, a corporation founded by former members of the special service, has its hands in a variety of businesses, is politically active and rumoured to have a mafia kingpin as a silent partner.  Certainly, the money has flowed freely into the club.  A new stadium has been built and a plethora of foreign talent recruited as the club inches closer to European success.  Last year, their first in a group stage, they managed a pair of results, including a 2-0 home victory over FC Twente.  Whether or not these Sheriffs wear a white hat, their opponents had best respect the badge.

BATE Borisov were the single Belorussian club, of a trifecta, to make the group stages of the Europa League, despite all of them having been on the cusp.  As WFC writer Eliot Rothwell recently noted the Belorussian FA has focused on the development of national players rather than its ranking in the UEFA club co-efficient.  Only three of BATE’s players are not native Belorussians.  The side may have come as far as it can expect in this competition but in years to come, expect more household names than just Alex Hleb to come out of Belarus.

Group F

Last year, Delio Rossi took over Palermo in mid-season for Walter Zenga.  He quickly turned things around and brought the Sicilian club up to 5th in the Serie A table.   After a summer overhaul to bring in players more to his liking, the new season hasn’t trended in the same direction as last.  A scoreless draw against hated Sardinian rivals Cagliari was followed by a shock 3-2 loss to newly promoted Brescia.  The club is just too deep and Rossi too good a manager for the slide to be anything other than a short transitional period.  When the terrier like captain, Fabrizio Miccoli finally catches a whiff of goal, he won’t lose the scent.

CSKA Moscow will hope to capitalise on the temporary lull in Palermo’s form to gain an advantage in the table.  Their prolific scorer Vagner Love has returned from a short respite in the warmer climes of his native Brazil.  Serbian Zoran Tosic has come over from FC Köln to give Keisuke Honda someone to partner with in midfield and Chilean World Cup super sub Mark Gonzalez will deservedly be given more of an opportunity to shine.  Tomas Nescid provides a second option in attack, other than Love.  Sitting third in the RPL, CSKA could take command of this group if the Sicilians’fortunes don’t soon improve.

While nations have been reshaped around them, Sparta Praha have remained constant, dominating the top flight of first the CSSR, then Czechoslovakia and now the Czech Republic.  Economics lure the best talent to the larger leagues but Iron Sparta is where the next generation is forged.  When Palermo and CSKA visit the beautiful city on the Vitava, they will have to work hard to enjoy a Bohemian Rhapsody.

Lausanne is the seat of Romandy, on the French border, and is more famous for it’s true winter sports, than for its football.  This season’s Swiss Cup was Lausanne Sports’ first success for the decade, much of which was spent in the lower division.  Their renaissance has been achieved through construction of a solid, defensive minded squad fronted by the Brazilian duo of Rodrigo and Silvio.  Group F looks a bit tricky and the Swiss team, with a little luck and a mountain of hard work, could turn it on its head.

Group G

Having spent their history playing second fiddle to Moscow clubs, Zenit St. Petersburg are at last living up to their name.  First under Dick Advocaat, who led them to the UEFA Cup and Super Cup in 2008, and now Luciano Spaletti, the St. Petersburg club have reached the zenith of the RPL.  Spaletti raided two time champions Rubin Kazan for a pair of strikers, young Aleksandr Bukharov and seasoned veteran Sergie Semak, thus adding to their own already potent attack and consolidatiing their position in the table while depleting the roster of a close competitor.  The only match Zenit have lost this season, to French club Auxerre, has put them in the Europa, instead of the Champions League.

RSC Anderlecht are the Juliper League champions and are carrying the standard for an as yet unrealised resurgence of Belgian football.  Last season, the club surprised many by winning its Europa League group, which included Ajax and Dinamo Zagreb.  They went on to stun Athletic Bilbao, winning the second leg, at home, 4-0 to advance 5-1 on aggregate before falling in the quarters to Hamburg.  Young Matias Suarez is the Anderlecht assassin but American newcomer Sacha Kljestan opened his account in the first 3 games after notching just 15 in 114 appearances for the Chivas USA side he captained.

While Hajduk Split probably enjoy the fact that bitter foes Dinamo Zagreb were one of the sides Anderlecht put under last season, they have no intentions of allowing the same to happen to them.  While they’ve been unable to overtake the Blues of  Dinamo, the Whites of Split come into this competition as holders of the Croatian Cup and hopes of a continental encounter with their local enemies.

AEK Athens are a good side with a tremendous home advantage in the form of their 74,000 seat home ground, Athens’Olympic Stadium.  They will need every seat filled in their support if they’re to get beyond the clubs they’ve been drawn with here.  Brazilian Eder and Aussie Nathan Burns have been brought in, from Asteras Tripolis and Kerkyra respectively, to provide goals.  The question, though, is will the defence be able to withstand the unending attacks that Zenit, Anderlecht and Split will put forth?

Group H

Any club which plays its home games in the Mercedes-Benz Arena should expect to lead the way out of their group. VFB Stuttgart have the players to make that expectation a reasonable one.  After bailing out a drowning Markus Babbel in mid-stream, last year, Christian Gross has been given the opportunity to do things his way now.  Christian Gentner, from Wolfsburg, and Mauro Camoranesi, from Juventus, have signed on to control the centre of the pitch and provide leadership. Cacau and Pavel Pogrebnyak will be backed up by Austrian Martin Harnik, who hopes to continue his remarkable goal rate at the top flight.

Real and Atletico are the clubs that grab the headlines in Madrid but there’s a third side in the Castilian capital that can play a little football, too.  Getafe made it to the quarters of the UEFA Cup in 2008 and are back to make their mark in the new improved version.  They don’t boast the superstars of their wealthier neighbours but the strike pair of Juan Albin and Adrian Colunga can find the goal.  Hoping for some playing time Ivan Marcano (Villareal) and Victor Sanchez (Barca) have come, on loan, to shore up the defence.  Getafe’s anonymity may serve them well if they carry it like a chip on their shoulder.

Swiss side Young Boys put a scare into Tottenham, in CL qualifying.  Jumping out to a 3-0 first half lead in the home leg, they were ultimately unable to shut the door on the big London club, conceding two goals before the match ended and 4 more at White Hart Lane.  The opportunistic Bern club will look to take advantage of the artificial surface at the Stade de Suisse, a wrinkle that seems to confound outsiders.  A word of advice to those of you who might want to know more about the club:  make sure you type ‘BSC’in front of ‘Young Boys’if you google them.  Otherwise, the results are a little unsettling.

Odense Boldklub, from Denmark, have not been able to rise above the dominance of FC Copenhagen, which would indicate that they will struggle even more, outside their homeland.  They do have Caca, in the attack.  However, before you get too excited, I have spelled his name correctly.   All I can say to OB supporters, is don’t expect too much.

Group I

Sampdoria can score goals, although, against a good side they also tend to let them in.  That was evident at the Stadio Olimpico, yesterday, as they fought to a 3-3 draw with Group A’s Juventus in a Serie A 2nd round encounter.  Rumours abound that the loss of expected revenue, from failing to make the Champions League, may see i Blucerchiati sell off either Antonio Cassano or Giampaolo Pazzini to stay out of the red.  Nicola Pozzi’s brace in Turin may embolden that thought in the board but a strong showing in the group stage may convince them that a Europa League crown is in the offing if they keep the trio in Genoa.

Gone are the glorious days for PSV Eindhoven.  Economic realities have taught a harsh lesson and the club must now toe the bottom line.  While the Champions League is out of reach, for the time being, the club can make some noise in the lesser celebration of talent.  Balazs Dzsuzsak and Danny Koevermans know where the opposing goal is located and captain Ibrahim Afellay sees that they are provided opportunities to assault it.  Wilfred Bouma has removed the splinters accumulated from riding the Aston Villa bench and will add experience to the back line.

Hungarian champions Debreceni VSC have been unlucky to be drawn into this group.  The talent on the Italian side is too much for them and their best player, Balazs Dzsuzsak, is now a goal scoring machine for PSV.  Nor can they realistically look to dominate the remaining club in the group and hope to steal a result or two.  Metalist Kharkiv are a solid Ukrainian side, not quite at the level of Shakhtar or Kyiv but definitely not pushovers.   Expect plenty of goals from this group.

Group J

There are 3 clubs who would not be shocks to emerge from Group J but Sevilla should be out front.  The inside-out combination of Luis Fabiano and Jesus Navas, with the added punch of Frederic Kanoute, all supported in midfield by Diego Perotta, have  kept the Andalusians in the La Liga conversation for a few seasons now.  Kanoute is 33 but his goal rate of close to 1 every other game isn’t going to disappear overnight and Luis Fabiano’s refusal to listen to overtures from major clubs suggests a pride for club that tends to inspire big performances when the spotlight is turned up.

Borussia Dortmund have loitered on the edge of Bundesliga relevance in the six years since their last spell of dominance.  If they can find a couple of players to better complement young Paraguayan sensation Lucas Barrios, they may once again be front and centre.  Manager Juergen Klopp brought Mohamed Zidan for that purpose but, while he’s been effective when playing, he hasn’t been able to stay in the lineup.  French starlet Damien le Tallec may be the perfect foil for Barrios but he’s just 20.  For now, the potent Paraguayan will play alone, in front of a 5 man midfield.

Having finished 13th in Ligue 1, you might feel that Paris St. Germain doesn’t belong in this competition, yet their stunning run to claim the Coupe de France has awarded them a place.   PSG feature 37 year old Claude Makelele holding down the midfield.  His lack of pace will surely be exploited by the attacks of Sevilla and Borussia Dortmund.  Still, his experience and instincts will count for something and if young Guillaume Hoarau can round into top form, PSG will have some hope.

Karpaty Lviv, 5th in the Ukrainian league are a youth factory and the players will be best advised to look on the trips west as an advance scouting trip for what might lay ahead, if they can manufacture a promising career.   Although, they might be able to steal some points from the inconsistent Parisians.

Group K

Since most of WFC’s readers likely prefer a good curry to a plate of lasagna, my ratingNapoli at the top of Group K isn’t going to make me many friends.  Basically it’s a matter of momentum.  The Italian club has been consistently improving over the last several years, while it’s been all downhill on Merseyside.  This year thePartenopei have drawn their first two matches in Serie A, against decent sides in Bari (seriously, keep an eye on these guys) and Fiorentina.  Gaining points while new players settle is always a good sign.  Edinson Cavani has come in and contributed immediately and Paolo Cannavaro (Fabio’s little bro) is strong at the back.  Marek Hamsik is working his magic in midfield and it’s time for 25 year old Ezequiel Lavezzi to put childish things aside and emerge as the force his talent promises.

Liverpool have some much bigger names, in Steven Gerard, Fernando Torres and Pepe Reina, than the Italians but the stars lack solid support, as their fortunate escape from Birmingham this weekend proved.  Roy Hodgson did work a miracle in this tournament last time out but that was when he had the support of an effective chairman.  Recently, Roy’s been quoted as having warned Ryan Babel that he’s on his last lifeline at Anfield and this will likely be the arena where he must prove himself.  The fragility of Torres is something of which Hodgson is keenly aware.  Surely, he would prefer to save the Spaniard for league duty and Babel has been granted his wish to play inside.  With Javier Mascherano gone and Dirk Kuyt lost for the group stage, even if Babel comes through, the Reds are just too thin to dominate.  However, after some tense adventures, they should progress.

Steaua Bucharest have to be cursing their luck with this draw.  Their fortunes have declined since their UEFA Cup semi final appearance in 2006; they’re no longer the club to beat in the Romanian League and scrappy as they may be, there aren’t any points to steal here.  FC Utrecht have a strong keeper in Michael Vorm and he will be put to the test.  Still, the Dutch side will not be making a passing grade this semester.

Group L

Andres Villas-Boas has come over to FC Porto, from Academica, to stop the slide.  After winning 6 of the last 7 Super Liga titles, Jose Mourinho’s first continental champions fell to 3rd in ’09.  Of course, they won a pair of domestic cups and were runners up in the other, so it wasn’t what you would call plummeting.  Villas-Boas, though, knows his primary job is to bring them back to the fore.  They’re powered by the goalscoring prowess of Givanildo Vieira de Souza.  Yes, you know who I mean.  I just have reservations about calling someone who is under 6′ and not especially muscular or green, Hulk.  It makes me feel silly.  There is enough talent around our hero and tradition supporting him, however, that he need not tear off his shirt and go berserk (he’d be cautioned, anyway) to see Porto through to the elimination rounds.

On the other hand, Besiktas are going to do everything they can to enrage the poorly named Porto striker.  To do that, they went out and signed former Real Madrid midfielder and heartthrob, Guti, to partner Ricardo Quaresma, late of Inter, Chelsea, Barca and, ahem, FC Porto.  If the pair can gain an understanding, the supply for the Turkish club’s veteran striker, Bobo (what is it with the names in this group?), should improve drastically.

CSKA Sofia, the runnersup in Bulgaria last season, are a proud side but they don’t have the squad to pull an upset here.  However, with Brazilian veteran Michel Platini (!) having been newly signed, they should certainly feel part of the family.  Much the same can be said for perennial Austrian power, Rapid Vienna, who welcomed veteran Jan Venegoor of Hesselink from relegated English side, Hull City.

..

Okay, I’m knackered.  Who’s idea was it to put 48 clubs into this competition, anyway?  I suspect it was Michel Platini and not the one from Brazil.  The one who can’t count.

Anyway, enjoy all the European nights ahead, both Champions and Europa Leagues, and I’ll see you after the holidays to preview the knockout rounds.

Cheers!

A league rich in both talent and variety, the Spanish top-flight is arguably the world’s highest-quality and most intriguing league at present, a competition added to by the political tensions and regional identities inherent in the Iberian game.

With the apparent greatness of the current Barcelona side and the arrival of Jose Mourinho in Madrid as its major plotlines, 2010/11 promises to be yet another fascinating season in La Liga.

The Race for the Title: A Tale of Two Cities

A few brief seasons at the start of the last decade aside, when Valencia under Rafael Benítez and Javier Iruerta’s Deportivo de La Corũna broke up La Liga’s established duopoly for a short time, Real Madrid and Barcelona have overwhelmingly dominated La Liga since the start of the new century, winning eight of the last eleven titles between them.

Once again, the 2010/11 campaign looks set to be fought out between Catalonia’s sporting and cultural flagship and the capital’s most illustrious club, the two institutions arguably both stronger now than they have ever been.

Barca - Europe's best team?

FC Barcelona, coached by club legend Pep Guardiola, has come to be seen as the finest club side in Europe over the last four or five years, the Blaugrana playing a brand of highly aesthetic and equally effective passing football. Driven by the relentlessly accurate distribution of Xavi, the unrivalled creativity of Andres Iniesta and the attacking genius of Lionel Messi, the Catalans have been a joy to watch in recent years.

Having recently signed David Villa from Valencia, La Liga’s most consistently threatening striker over the last five years, and apparently drawing closer to securing the signature of Javier Mascherano, Barcelona are continually building on their success and planning for the future. The Camp Nou outfit arguably look stronger, in the lead-up to the 2010/11 season, than they ever have before and it will surely take an almighty effort from their Madrid rivals to prevent Guardiola’s side from claiming a third consecutive title.

However, spurred on by Barcelona’s growing superiority, Real Madrid have responded in typical fashion, by going about assembling one of the most talented, expensive squads ever seen, in order to wrestle the league away from Catalonia.

Florentino Pérez’s return as club president, last summer, prompted an unprecedented spending spree.  Global superstars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso all arrived at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, in what was seen as the second wave of Madrid’s famed galáctico policy. Although the team may have fallen short in the league last season, losing out to Barcelona by just three points in what was a record-breaking campaign, Pérez has made some important adjustments, the most notable change being his hiring of José Mourinho as manager.

The Portuguese – fresh from a treble-winning season with Inter – will be relishing the challenge ahead of him in the Spanish capital, his brief being to shape his squad of talented individuals – including his latest signing, Mesut Özil – into a cohesive unit and win Los Blancos their first title since 2008. A master motivator and an inspired tactician, Mourinho is Madrid’s first galáctico coach and it would be little surprise should he add to his already burgeoning CV, by guiding his new club to success in his first season in Spain.

It promises to be a fascinating, potentially historic season at the summit of the Primera División.

Continental Ambition

Continually overshadowed by the dominance of and rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona, life in La Liga can occasionally be disheartening for the cluster of clubs competing in the upper echelons of the table and yet unable to come close to winning the title, such is the strength of the top two.

Can Forlan inspire Atleti to more success?

That said, there are a handful of teams in the division that have acquitted themselves admirably in recent seasons and have made an impression of European competitions, when they have been given the opportunity. Last season Quique Sánchez Flores’ Atlético Madrid triumphed in the inaugural season of the Europa League, energised by the goals of Diego Forlán and the all-action midfield play of Simão Sabrosa, to also reach the final of the Copa del Rey.

Although their continental exertions took their toll on league form, Atléti eventually finishing the season in ninth place, Los Colchoneros have enough quality to be consistently finishing in the top four and, with the right additions to the squad, should be confident of Champions League qualification.

Another of the sides perennially in and around the European places is Sevilla, a club that has produced a consistently high level of performance throughout the last decade, claiming two UEFA Cups and a pair of Copa del Rey titles to become firmly established as a major force in the modern era.

Despite his team’s untimely exit from the Champions League, Antonio Álvarez has at his disposal a squad that plays with an unfussy elegance and possesses an underrated strength and power, which allows the team to match sides that attempt to negate them with a physical approach. A group of players with a diverse range of abilities – from Diego Capel, to Jesús Navas, to Luís Fabiano – the Rojiblancos are perhaps the club best equipped to challenge the top two. It may be unlikely to happen this season, but if there is a team capable of toppling the Barça-Madrid axis, it’s Sevilla.

In 2009/10 it was Valencia that finished third to Madrid and Barcelona, topping the mini-league of clubs all looking to break up the seemingly incessant run of success shared by the old rivals. Although Unai Emery’s side were impressive at times last season, one fears that Los Che may struggle to repeat the feat having lost David Villa and David Silva to Barcelona and Manchester City respectively.

As good as players such as Juan Mata and Éver Banega are, Valencia’s squad looks far shallower and much less robust than it has done in recent years. Unless the money from the departures of Silva and Villa is re-invested in the signings of several top-class players before the end of the summer, players that can help the club develop and move forward, then the coming season unfortunately looks like it could be one of regression for the east coast team.

Valencia are more than good enough to again finish in the top four, but much depends on the club’s business activity over the next month or so.

Villarreal's Nilmar

Despite not enjoying the best of campaigns last season, Villarreal are a team that underwent a transition following the departure of Manuel Pellegrini to Real Madrid, last summer, and now looks ready to move up a gear with what is a small but talented squad at El Madrigal.

Having been handed a Europa League place following Real Mallorca’s exclusion from the competition over a licensing technicality, El Submarino Amarillo is set for an unexpected European adventure but will surely be focusing first and foremost on improving their consistency on the domestic front.

The team’s spine of Diego López, Diego Godín, Marco Senna, Giuseppe Rossi and Nilmar is quite possibly the best outside of the “big two” and, if those key players can avoid long lay-offs, should see Juan Carlos Garrido’s team comfortably qualify for Europe. They may be a little short of the all-round quality required to mount a serious bid for third place, but there’s no reason why this miraculously over-achieving club can’t, with a favourable wind, book itself a Champions League berth yet again.

Feeding Off Scraps: The Relegation Battle

Away from the glitz and the glamour, with no hope of European adventure and survival the uppermost priority, the bottom of the league can be a miserable place to be. However, La Liga’s basement has provided us with some superbly entertaining relegation scraps in recent years and I for one am hoping for more of the same in 2010/11.

Can Levante avoid the drop?

Of the teams that have come up from the Segunda División, Real Sociedad look fairly well placed to stay up, but Hércules and Levante – respectively the second and third placed sides in the lower tier – look like they could struggle to stay up in what is an increasingly competitive division, in its lower reaches.

Hércules, despite a smattering of quality with players such as Javier Portillo and Tote, would appear to lack the general abilities and top level experience that is vital to ensuring any team’s competitiveness in the Primera Liga. The same can be said for Levante, a team that flits between the first and second tiers, but struggled horribly when they were last in the top flight, finishing rock bottom a full 17 points short of safety.

Malaga, who only narrowly survived the drop last season, will again be hard-pushed to avoid the trap-door. Although the Andalusian side has some players with decent reputations (Duda and Edinho spring to mind), theirs is essentially a squad of Portuguese and South American journeymen alongside some fairly mediocre home-grown footballers. If Jesualdo Ferreira can instil in his team an element of coherence, then Malaga could find themselves well clear of the basement come the end of the season. However, should the team continue operating in its relatively ramshackle way, serious problems could lie ahead for the Boquerones.

Brazil, for example, will not ignore the former Ballon D’Or winner Ronaldinho until the last minute. Higuian’s recent surge for Argentina in the qualifiers has put him in the running for next summer and Joe Cole has recently come back from injury and is in contention, after 11 months, for the England national team. It’s all up in the air –even for Spain, the European Champions. 

A squad that allows Cesc Fabregas to sit on the bench is without a doubt a squad of luxury. The Spanish midfield is possibly the strongest we’ve seen at any level in a long time. Their ‘Plan A’ – their passing game – is formidable. 

There will be times, however, next summer where they will have to look to ‘Plan B’. David Silva is a great attacking threat down the left, and can also play off the striker, like he does for Valencia. Santi Cazorla is also available as is Juan Mata who may be useful as a direct approach to combat teams such as Brazil. 

Jesus Navas is another option for La Furia Roja. A quick, tricky and direct winger – there’s no doubt in his quality and had it not been for personal circumstance he’d surely have followed a career path similar to that of Daniel Alves – showing just a few weeks ago his quality when he helped Sevilla inflict Real Madrid’s first loss of the season. 

The personal circumstance in question here is that Navas suffers from chronic homesickness. Somewhat ironic for a gypsy, Navas cannot spend too much time away from the Andalusian region. This has caused him to miss out on Sevilla’s tour of the USA and he has had to return home early from Spanish national team camps.

At only 23 years old, it could simply be that Navas has jut not grown up yet; this begs a further question. Do footballers struggle to adapt to real life circumstances because they’re somewhat institutionalised into the game? Navas has been part of the Sevilla set up since the age of 16 and life outside the walls of the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán is may be considered alien to him. 

Recently, however, Navas has vowed to get over his phobia: 

“To play for your country is the greatest thing and I hope to be able to, too. I have to be calm and make my decision. I have to continue taking the right steps.” 

There’s no doubt what it means to Navas, but the question is how is he going to break the psychologically barrier? It might be a question of maturity, or a particular bond to his home life that he will have to break. Whether this condition can be cured in time for next year’s World Cup remains to be seen. Spain may not be crying out for a winger but they could do a lot worse than have Navas in their squad to try and capture their first World Cup.