Bad Bad Starts For Barcelona and Real Madrid

Spain’s big two opened La Liga with away defeats. First Barcelona went to newly promoted Numancia and left with a 1-0 defeat. Mario Martinez put the underdogs ahead in the 13th minute and Barca never came back. Samuel Eto’o and Leo Messi hit the woodwork (side note: are we going to call it woodwork for ever now?) for Barca but Pep Guardiola’s first game in charge ended with no points. Somewhere Frank Rijkaard is nodding to himself.

Real Madrid at least have some excuse for their 2-1 loss at Deportivo La Coruña. Wesley Sneijder was injured, Rafael van der Vaart was suspended and Real haven’t won at Depor’s Rizaor stadium since 1991. And to make things worse, Robinho called and hosted his own press conference before the game to make it clear that he wants to leave.

Enterprising move from the young Brazilian. Here are the highlights:

“The situation has not changed at all. The negotiations are continuing and I still wish to leave Madrid. I want to play for Chelsea.”

“The president and Pedja (Mijatovic) said they will let me leave, but Schuster doesn’t because he has promised to make me feel comfortable again. If he thinks that, it’s his problem. I don’t want to stay at Real Madrid.”

Needless to say, Robinho didn’t play today.

So how worried should Barca and Real be? Remember Barca didn’t even take second last season, finishing third behind Villarreal. And Atletico Madrid look the hot shit right now, showing Barca how you deal with newly promoted teams by thumping Malaga 4-0 to go top of the league.

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Category: Spain La Liga

Tags: Barcelona, Chelsea, Deportivo La Coruna, Mario Martinez, Numancia, Real Madrid, Robinho, Spain La Liga

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