After the new season kicked off with a bang last week, La Liga will head into its second round of matches in a sombre mood following the shock death of Sevilla left-back Antonio Puerta.
But the show must go on and the pick of this weekend's action will see Villarreal play host to reigning champions Real Madrid in the only match to pit two teams who won on the opening day.
The Yellow Submarine Torpedo
Villarreal provided one of the many stunning upset results of day one when they crushed nine-men Valencia 0-3 at the Mestalla.
Not only was it a convincing scoreline, but the Yellow Submarines had complete domination over their crosstown rivals, enjoying the lion's share of possession as well as having more shots on goal against a team once renowned for having the most disciplined defence in Spain.
It was Villarreal's ninth consecutive La Liga win, a run that stretches back to last term and one that is only surpassed by Real Madrid's 15 and Barcelona's 14 consecutive league wins.
It was that remarkable streak when they won their final eight games of the season in a row that enabled Manuel Pellegrini's side to torpedo past Real Zaragoza and Atlético Madrid to a fifth place finish, and in the process, secured themselves a third ever UEFA Cup appearance.
The Castellon-based outfit also had an unbeaten pre-season campaign with three wins and two draws, although admittedly it wasn't as gruelling as the schedule of some of the big guns. They have been more active in the transfer market, having strengthened their squad depth with 11 new faces as they look to avoid a repeat of last season's injury plagued start that severely compromised their first team.
Forlán Forgotten
Despite losing former Pichichi winner Diego Forlán to Atlético Madrid, coach Pellegrini doesn't seem to be showing any signs that he's missing the services of the Uruguayan striker - or that of Juan Román Riquelme's for that matter - if last week's win was anything to go by.
Jon Dahl Tomasson and young prodigy Giuseppe Rossi look more than capable of shouldering the goalscoring duties; while two other promising youngsters Matías Fernández and Santi Cazorla, back from his loan spell at Recreativo Huelva last season, are ready to take over the playmaker role if Riquelme continues to be left out of the team selection.
Madrid Hit The Mark
After a turbulent pre-season and the disastrous Supercopa defeat to Sevilla, Real Madrid finally hit all the right notes on the first day of La Liga when they beat fierce city rivals Atlético Madrid 2-1. Los Merengues even won praise for their markedly improved attacking performance, evident by the approval from various Spanish sports dailies and more crucially from the Bernabéu faithful.
But Bernd Schuster, happy and relieved as he was, admitted that there's still a lot of work to be done. He also insisted that his players, new and old, will need more time before the entire team can play well with his style of attacking football at a consistent level.
A rampant Villarreal side will offer the perfect test to the defending champions. It will be a chance for the German coach and his brigade to show that they are indeed rapidly improving and that the impressive showing against Atlético wasn't just a fluke.
Offloading The Bench
Having spent much of the summer hogging the headlines over the big money arrivals, Los Blancos have been busy at work in the final few days of the transfer season offloading the surplus to requirements. Cicinho, Emerson and Antonio Cassano have all made the move to Italy's Serie A, while late on dateline day, the club also shipped out three of their young stars.
Rubén de la Red has made a permanent move to Bernd Schuster's former club Getafe - but with a typically sly buy back clause attached to the deal, ofcourse - as has Esteban Granero, who will only be there for a season-long loan spell. Adrián González meanwhile has been loaned out to second division side Celta Vigo.
Roberto Soldado and Julio Baptista, however, survived the last minute clear-outs after their respective suitors failed to put in an acceptable bid before the transfer market closed shop. Surviving the cut is one thing but whether or not the duo can fit into a squad packed with attacking talent is another story altogether. They will nonetheless, be eager to fight for their place in the first team.
FORM GUIDE
Villarreal
Aug 25 Valencia vs Villarreal 0-3 (Primera Liga)
Aug 19 Villarreal vs Livorno 2-2 (Pre-Season Friendly)
Aug 14 Villarreal vs Osasuna 3-0 (Pre-Season Friendly)
Aug 10 Villarreal vs Sporting Braga 3-1 (Pre-Season Friendly)
Aug 07 Hércules vs Villarreal 0-4 (Pre-Season Friendly)
Real Madrid
Aug 25 Real Madrid vs Atlético Madrid 2-1 (Primera Liga)
Aug 19 Real Madrid vs Sevilla 3-5 (Spanish Super Cup)
Aug 15 Cadiz vs Real Madrid 1-3 (Ramon de Carranza Trophy)
Aug 14 Real Madrid vs Real Betis 0-1 (Ramon de Carranza Trophy)
Aug 11 Sevilla vs Real Madrid 1-0 (Spanish Super Cup)
TEAM NEWS
Villarreal
The long running Juan Román Riquelme saga finally came to an end after the playmaker's supposed move to Atlético Madrid fell through in the final hours of the transfer deadline and will now remain at El Madrigal. Another out of favour player José Mari meanwhile, has completed a move to Real Betis.
Pellegrini made one last addition to bolster his defence by signing right back Ángel from Celta Vigo. On the other side of the defensive flank, Joan Capdevila was brought in from Deportivo La Coruña to replace the experienced Rodolfo Arruabarrena. Centreback Gonzalo Rodríguez meanwhile, remains the only long term injury casualty from last season, but new signing Diego Godín should provide ample back up for the time being.
Lightning-quick forward Nihat Kahveci is set to challenge for a starting berth upfront having rediscovered his full match fitness, while Mexican striker Guillermo Franco returns to the side after serving out his suspension carried over from last season.
Pellegrini is likely to adhere to the "don't fix it if it's not broken" adage and stick to the same starting eleven that thumped Valencia last week. Riquelme is unlikely to find a place in the Chilean's game plan having missed the pre-season with the team.
Probable Starting XI: Viera - Venta/Ángel, Cygan, Fuentes, Capdevila - Cazorla, Senna, Josico, Pirès - Tomasson, Rossi/Kahveci
Real Madrid
Fabio Cannavaro and Wesley Sneijder gave Madrid a momentary scare in midweek when the missed a number of training sessions to nurse their respective injuries. They have both since made full recoveries but Pepe wasn't as lucky as he picked up a thigh injury and will now be sidelined for up to 3 weeks.
Gonzalo Higuain and Miguel Torres have recommenced full training on the field with the rest of the team and could be included in the squad to travel to Vila-real. Latest addition Gabriel Heinze has also regained full match fitness after being left out of pre-season preparations with his former club Manchester United. The Argentine could very well make his debut on Sunday, but Dutch winger Arjen Robben is still below par and will be kept on his customized fitness regime for a few more weeks.
Schuster has the option of using Christoph Metzelder as a direct stand-in for Pepe or moving Sergio Ramos to the centre, although the young Spanish international is at his best down the right wing, as he showed last weekend.
Probable Starting XI: Casillas - Sergio Ramos, Metzelder, Cannavaro, Heinze - Sneijder, Diarra, Guti, Robinho - Raul, van Nistelrooy
WATCH OUT FOR
Villarreal - Santi Cazorla/Robert Pirès
The exciting young Cazorla was brilliant against Valencia last week, scoring one and setting up the another while constantly pulling the strings from midfield with the typical playmaker flair.
Together with the wise, old head of Robert Pirès on the opposite side of the flank, Madrid's attacking-minded fullbacks will have to be extra cautious to prevent the duo from carving up spaces in midfield.
Real Madrid - Wesley Sneijder/Raul
Sneijder has so far been impressive ever since his move from Ajax Amsterdam. He got his La Liga debut off to a perfect start last weekend by netting the winning goal, against Atlético Madrid no less, and his confidence will be sky high going into Matchday 2.
Raul is another player to keep an eye on in this game. Having been given a more forward role upfront around the box, the 30 year old was exceptional last week, putting on a classic lead-by-example captain's performance.
PREDICTION
Three of the last five league meetings between the two sides have ended in draws and the last time the Yellow Submarine lost at home to Real was back in 2003. Having already crushed one pre-season title favourite last week, Villarreal will be looking for a second major scalp in succession, although Madrid themselves will have other plans in mind, one of which would be to end their host's hot nine game winning strongly. My prediction, Madrid-2, Villareal-1
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