Madrid: Barcelona and Real Madrid are set to resume their domination in the Spanish league this weekend, as their rivals band together to level the financial playing field against the two giants.
Spain's traditional powerhouses recorded lopsided victories in the opening league round and could very well do so again on Saturday, as Barcelona are at Real Sociedad and Madrid welcome Getafe in a Spanish capital derby.
With the duo's grip on Spanish football ever-strengthening, at least a dozen of the remaining 18 top-flight clubs are meeting on Thursday to discuss measures aimed at improving TV revenue-sharing. About half of that money currently goes to Barcelona and Madrid, with the pair pulling in at least 250 million Euros.
Villarreal, who are playing in the Champions League, have little time to bounce back from the 5-0 thrashing by Barcelona as they play Sevilla on Saturday. Midfielder Jonathan De Guzman was clear there was probably little Sociedad would be able to do against the three-time defending champions.
"The most you can do against Barcelona is enjoy it. Enjoy who you are playing against and learn from it," De Guzman told The Associated Press on Thursday.
"You don't really want to talk about that loss, never after a beating. Barcelona is Barcelona and these are the teams you have to forget. The next game we have to win."
For Barcelona, centre-back Carles Puyol trained normally on Thursday and the Spain defender could play for the first time since May after recovering from knee surgery. Gerard Pique remains sidelined for the match at the Anoeta stadium with a calf injury.
Coach Pep Guardiola survived without the pair in the season's opening win, using a Johan Cruyff total football-inspired 3-4-3 formation that displayed the virtues of Barcelona's star-studded midfield and allowed newcomers Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez to get on the scoresheet.
"Evidently this Barca is better than last year's," defender Daniel Alves said. "We've incorporated great players, world stars, so it's inevitable we'll be better."
The three-time defending Spanish champions will use the contest to prepare for Tuesday's game against AC Milan as the European champions begin their Champions League defence.
Madrid, who opened the season with a 6-0 win at Zaragoza, are at Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday but first have their opening match of the season at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium with midfield signings Nuri Sahin and Hamit Altintop still sidelined by injury.
Defenders Ricardo Carvalho and Pepe appeared side-by-side in good spirits despite problems with Portugal last week, when Carvalho walked out on his national side citing Pepe's insertion into the starting lineup without having trained as unacceptable.
"At Real Madrid the collective rather than the players matter," coach Jose Mourinho was quoted as saying on the club's website.
Valencia welcome Atletico Madrid and Radamel Falcao could make his debut after the Colombia striker joined Atletico from FC Porto in a 40 million Euros deal.
Malaga are looking for a first victory at El Rosaleda against newly-promoted Granada on Monday, after the high-spending club opened the season with defeat to Sevilla.
On Sunday, it's - Racing Santander vs Levante; Osasuna vs Sporting Gijon; Real Betis vs Mallorca; Rayo Vallecano vs Zaragoza; and Espanyol vs Athletic Bilbao.
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