(Football news) La Liga is back for the 2022/23 season and FC Barcelona have managed to register most of their new signings except Jules Kounde. In their opening match against Rayo Vallecano, Xavi started 3 of his new signings and brought one on as a substitute. Despite that Barcelona could only manage a 0-0 draw. All that attacking talent on the pitch couldn't manage to break down Rayo's defence. The Blaugrana had 68% possession and 6 shots on target while the away side had 2 shots on target. Lewandowski was nowhere near his best and it looks like it's going to take him some time to settle into the league. Star midfielder Pedri had to be taken off in the 72nd minute due to an injury while Sergio Busquets was shown a red card in the final minutes of the match. Barcelona's midfield will be very short in the next match against Real Sociedad away.

Real Madrid began their title defence with a scrappy 2-1 win over newly promoted Almeria away from home. Carlo Ancelotti made 5 changes to the side that beat Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Super Cup final. Aurélien Tchouaméni and Antonio Rudiger both started their first official match for Real Madrid. Both the debutants had a tricky time on the pitch and didn't have the best of games. Rudiger was caught napping in the 6th minute when Largie Ramazani gave the home side an early lead. It took Real Madrid till the 61st minute to get an equaliser via Lucas Vazquez. Carlo Ancelotti brought on David Alaba in the 74th minute at left back. Los Blancos were about to take a free kick when the Austrian came on and he stepped up and pinged it into the top right corner to score the winner with his first touch. It wasn't the best of performances by the Merengues but it gave them 3 points.

After a difficult last season, Atletico Madrid started this campaign well with a comfortable 3-0 win away at Getafe. Diego Simeone continued to play Axel Witsel as a central centre-back despite him rarely playing there in his career. Alvaro Morata returned to the Rojiblancos after his loan spell at Juventus and scored twice with both assists coming from Joao Felix. It is already starting to look like a good partnership with the two up front. Felix assisted substitute Antoine Griezmann for the third goal to complete his hat-trick of assists. The Portuguese forward will be hoping that this is the season where he finally explodes.

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