Defending champions Atletico Madrid made it two wins in a row and stayed in strong contention for the title after narrowly beating Elche 1-0 at home in the second round of the new La Liga season.
The "Western Premier League" Barcelona and Real Madrid failed to win, but the two teams are in very different situations.
For Barcelona, the team itself is overstretched and short-staffed. In the back line, Pique is injured and Garcia is suspended; in the forward line, Aguero is injured before he even starts and Depay, the only one who can be relied on, has also suffered an injury. Faced with such a predicament, Koeman is in a tight spot when it comes to lining up, and it's unlikely that he'll include in his starting lineup those who are certain to be expelled.
Despite the fact that the transfer window has not yet closed and the team still has the opportunity to bring in reinforcements, Barcelona is facing a shortage of funds.
In contrast, Real Madrid does not have these problems. The team has a strong lineup, with no injuries or suspensions to any of the main players, and the team's financial strength is so strong that Real Madrid can bring in players for 150 million euros, or even pay in pounds sterling, as long as Paris agrees to release them.
The root of Barcelona's problems lies in the fact that Neymar was poached by Paris in the summer of 2017, and naturally Messi's successor is unlikely to return easily, even with a €222 million release fee on offer. However, that figure still seems low, as Big Paris is willing to pay that much.
Levy is obviously not as stupid as Bartomeu. No matter how much City offer Kane, as long as Spurs don't release him, there's nothing City or Kane can do about it because there's no release clause in the contract.
Maybe you could set a prohibitive amount. For example, like Real Madrid, set a 500 or 600 million euro release fee for non-starters like Isco and Asensio, and who's going to poach?
Lost Neymar, although got 222 million euros of income, but Barcelona did not use it effectively. After buying Dembele, the cost has been spent more than half, and then buy Coutinho, but also have to pour ...... so that non-stop purchase, 200 million Neymar's funds are spent, but still have not created a competitive lineup. By this summer, debt-ridden Barcelona has no money to renew Messi's contract, and there are still a number of players in the team with astronomical annual salaries but can not play a role. Messi's return, not only did not bring any revenue for Barcelona, but also let the team to carry more debt.
On the other hand, Real Madrid's side made 100 million euros from the timely sale of Crowe. This money was not wasted. Now, Real Madrid wants to bring in Mbappe or Harland, and also has enough financial resources.
On the issue of player contracts, not only Neymar, Messi and many high-paying players, potential new star contract renewal is also a problem. Known as "La Masia Pogba" Moriba, next year's contract expires, contract renewal negotiations have reached a stalemate. Moriba, only need to increase the annual salary from 1 million euros to 3 million euros.
On Real Madrid's side, Eudegardo, Vinicius, Rodrigo, Kubo Kenyoung and others are in their own hands whether they stay or move on.
There's no point in keeping Ödgörn, Arsenal wanted to bring him in and Real Madrid charged almost €40m for the transfer. only cost €2.8m when brought in in 2015 and kept him out on loan for long periods of time over the years without having to take on wages at all and collecting rentals.
"Norwegian Messi" Ödgård was also fooled by Zidane. Originally playing for Real Sociedad, Zidane said, "Come back and let you take over from Modric." When Ödgöl came back, the Magic Flute continued to play in the starting lineup and he had to offer to lease out.
In fact, the person Real Madrid sees as the successor to Modric is not Odegall, but F. Valverde. Valverde and Odegall are of similar age, brought in by Real Madrid for 5 million euros in 2016, first put into the B team, halfway through the lease to La Coruna to work out for a season, and then after being selected into the first team in July 2018, he quickly played in the starting lineup.
Modric's contract expires next year and is unlikely to be renewed. Modric has won the Ballon d'Or, Valverde may not be able to get in the future, but as Modric's successor, naturally, can not be easily scooped up. Barcelona's "Neymar incident" is a mistake that Real Madrid is unlikely to make.
According to a report from Goal.com, Real Madrid will extend Valverde's contract until 2027, with the release fee rising from €500 million to €1 billion. Then, in the next six years, as long as Real Madrid does not release, then no one can dig out Valverde.
