“When Las Palmas’ fans started rushing on to the pitch, there was no indication they would stop. Veteran midfielder Apoño had just given the club a lead that could have sent it into Spain’s top flight. The Basque folk from hilly Éibar had already purchased their seats next to Barcelona and Real Madrid, and so too had Deportivo de La Coruña, now a ghost of the team once hailed as SuperDepor. Only one spot remained in 2014-15’s Primera División.” Fusion

“Share the wealth, we say, but when you’re as wealthy as Real Madrid and Barcelona, it might not pay to take that stance. La Liga’s upper class is strictly limited to those two clubs, and they each pocketed close to $174 million in television revenue last season. Leading the middle classes was Valencia, with $59 million, while league champions Atlético Madrid only had $51 million to show for toppling El Real and La Blaugrana.” Soccer Gods

“The first rule of Clásico club: Take everything you read with a pinch of salt. With three points, the La Liga title and those famous bragging rights at stake between Barcelona and Real Madrid, anything goes on the Spanish press’s playground as judgment day looms. Punching in Barça’s corner are Catalan newspapers Diario SPORT and Mundo Deportivo, while Madrid is counting on Marca and Diario AS.” Soccer Gods

“One-third of respondents to a poll by AS want Real Madrid to drop Cristiano Ronaldo. In another, simultaneous finding, one-third of respondents are idiots. To be fair, Ronaldo did go a whole three matches without scoring in February, dropping his record to a lackluster 41 goals in 39 games for club and country this season. All-time in La Liga, he’s only scored 207 goals in 171 appearances. Maybe the fans are right, maybe El Real can find someone better. Why not just clone Isco and play him up front as well? They’d like that.” Soccer Gods

“Things are not well at Barcelona again after a defeat to Malaga, while in Madrid, Real are firing on all cylinders and Mario Mandzukic and Antoine Griezmann are impressing for Atletico. Here are five things from the weekend’s La Liga action.” ESPN

“Silence camouflaged Atlético Madrid’s Vicente Calderón stadium as Luciano Vietto dropped his shoulder and spun to his left. Propelling himself into the Atleti area, the Villarreal attacker thumped the ball beyond goalkeeper Miguel Ángel Moyà, ending the La Liga champion’s 18-month unbeaten home run in the league. He’d only been in Spain for four months. On the touchline, Atlético boss Diego Simeone was left conflicted. He’d just seen his star defender, Diego Godín, made to look like the Statue of Liberty, something very few players have been able to do over the last two years, as Villarreal robbed his side of key points in the race to retain the Primera División. Still, the man that was wearing the balaclava, Vietto, was someone he couldn’t help but be glad for.” Soccer Gods

“One by one, Valencia’s players filtered through the mixed zone on Tuesday, each one looking as dejected as the next. Outside, beery-eyed Espanyol fans filled bars surrounding the club’s Cornellà El-Prat stadium on the outskirts of Barcelona, their faces wearing ear-to-ear smiles. Their team had just knocked Los Che out of the Copa del Rey, result that had them dreaming of reaching the final. Back in Valencia, a storm had begun. The newspaper Super Deporte said the club’s supporters felt ‘defrauded’ by professionals they expect much more from.” Soccer Gods

“Blame Diego Simeone the player for our one-track minds, but it’s hard to see el Cholo the coach as anything but an extension of the man on the field. As head coach with Atlético, he’s been an obstinate disbeliever — a person whose combination of dedication, optimism and talent leave him unconvinced that Spain’s established pecking order applies to his club. That same mentality that lead to 106 caps for Argentina is upending the duopoly in La Liga.” Soccer Gods

“That was a long two weeks of nothingness with only a Ronaldo/Pérez spat-and-backtrack to keep the blog going for a fortnight. Spain’s rebuild is underway, nobody got fired and as far as La Liga can recall, Barcelona managed to avoid being investigated for some kind of tax/contract/signing misdemeanour. All very disappointing. Aside from all the posers detailed below ahead of the weekend to come, LLL is also pondering whether Valencia’s promising start to the season can continue at home to Espanyol and is keen to see if Villarreal can live without the injured Giovani dos Santos at Granada. In the meantime, here are some bigger fish to fry.” FourFourTwo

“Florentino Perez is an idiot. In a span of two days Real Madrid sold Angel Di Maria and Xabi Alonso, arguably the two most important players (outside of Cristiano Ronaldo, of course) in last year’s historic Champions League and Copa del Rey double. It’s just the latest depressing sign that, at the Bernabeu and especially in President Florentino Perez’s mind, splashy headlines and #marketing always trump the on-the-field necessities of the team. If you took a time machine way back to Oct. 26, 2013 you would be surprised to see that as Real Madrid visited Barcelona for the first Clasico of the season, the team was mired in doubts and confusion.” Fusion

“James Rodriguez, to Gareth Bale, to Cristiano Ronaldo: Goal. It took less than 10 minutes for three of Real Madrid’s world-class stars to combine for the first goal in the European champion’s 2-0 UEFA SuperCup win over Europa League winner Sevilla last week while sending out a clear message. Real Madrid’s summer showings, in which fellow new signing Toni Kroos has also been outstanding in a midfield three, announced to its La Liga rivals that the reigning Champions League winner is not taking the upcoming campaign lightly. But if you were expecting, after last season’s dramatic title triumph by Atletico Madrid, normal service in La Liga to resume and that the league would return to a two-horse race between Real and Barcelona, you may be surprised. Let’s look at the contenders ahead of this weekend’s season-opening matches…” SI