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The Serie A season has not yet started but already Inter Milan have walked away with a trophy as the champions won their Super Cup clash. A similar story has evolved in Spain where although their league campaign is yet to start, champions Real Madrid have already secured the Spanish Super Cup.
Another Trophy for Real Madrid
A home triumph over Valencia in the two legged final with Ruud van Nistelrooy amongst the goals again indicated that Real Madrid are returning with intent for the 2008/09 season. As always with Spain, the majority of the focus falls on Real Madrid and Barcelona but the two club have had contrasting summers.
Starting with the champions, it has been a summer played out in the gossip columns and with the transfer window shutting in a few days, there hasn't been as much movement in and out of Madrid as many would have predicted.
The start of the summer was awash with news of Ronaldo moving to Madrid and the layer was very keen to court and promote this publicity. After a European Championships where Portugal wore white, Ronaldo remarked it was a good colour on him and this immediately set tongues wagging.
Last season’s English Player of the Year has yet to play club football this season but this is due to an injury picked up and everything points to the Manchester United player remaining in England for at least this season. Recent comments by Vidic, the Manchester United centre-half, has alerted the top Spanish clubs to his availability and keen-ness to play in La Liga but for now, Real Madrid do not appear to be shopping in Manchester.
Robinho London Bound
Although it has not gone through yet, it finally looks as though Real may be shipping out Robinho to Chelsea. Ever since the Ronaldo to Madrid rumours surfaced, the Brazilian star has made many comments about not feeling wanted at the Bernabeu and this move hasn't been the biggest surprise of the summer. The player is expected to be wearing Chelsea blue by the start of September.
So there hasn’t been too much excitement at the Bernabeu but Real Madrid have still managed to splash out over 30 million euros this summer. Over 13 million euros went on Rafael van der Vaart who was purchased from Hamburg. The Dutch international plays as an attacking midfielder and will provide a number of attacking options for the Spanish champions.
10 million euros was spent on securing Ezquiel Garay from Racing Santander, although the player has been loaned back to his former club for the season ahead. Madrid utilized their buy back option to bring Francisco Javier Garcia back from Osasuna for around 4 million euros and Ruben de la Red was signed back from Getafe in a very similar deal.
Real Madrid start their defence of the campaign with a match against Deportivo La Coruna. Deportivo may not be the team they were back in the 1990s but Madrid have a tendency to struggle at the Riazor stadium. It will not be an easy match for the champions against the team who finished 9th in last seasons campaign.
Barcelona Active on Transfer Front
Where Real Madrid have stumbled in some of their transfer moves this summer, rivals Barcelona have been very active but then again, there has been much more need for improvement in this Barcelona team.
Deco has moved to Chelsea, Ronaldinho has moved to Milan, Crosas has moved to Celtic and of course, there is a new man at the helm of the Camp Nou, Josep Guardiola. There has been a lot of money spent this summer in rebuilding Barcelona but given how badly the squad underperformed last season, this can be no surprise at all.
Barcelona start their campaign with an away tie to Numancia, a newly promoted team to Spain’s top flight. On paper this would give the Catalan club the ideal opportunity to get off to a winning start but the home team will be fired up and looking to cause a shock.
Barcelona have already been in competitive action this season and have eased into the Champions League group stages with a comfortable victory in their third round ties. A comprehensive home win made the away leg a formality and so it proved as Barcelona eased into the group stages.
Two Madrid Teams in Champions League
Villarreal had booked their place in the Champions League by finishing second but Spain had another team involved in Champions League qualification. Athletico Madrid were unfortunate to be ranked as an unseeded team and were drawn against Schalke. The first leg in Germany brought a 1-0 victory for the home team leaving Athletico Madrid with a stern test to make the group stages of the biggest club competition.
A 4-0 victory made a mockery over how tough Athletico's task was meant to be so Spain can now look forward to having four teams in the group stages with Madrid having two teams straight in. Schalke's elimination from the tournament has had some impact on the seedings with Juventus moving up from Pot 3 to Pot 2.
The clubs who originally sat in Pot 3 may look on with some dismay as they now have the potential to be drawn against the Turin giants.
Athletico Madrid can celebrate their qualification on Sunday as they have a home tie against Malaga. Malaga are another newly promoted club and this could provide Athletico with an excellent chance to get their season off to a great start.
The other Spanish Champions League entrants, Villarreal, open their season away to Osasuna. This tie pits last season’s 17th team (escaping relegation by one point) against the runners up and again, there is every chance for a Champions League entrant to get some early points on the board before they start their major European adventures.
Similar to Serie A, La Liga suffers from the international that occurs the weekend after the league starts. This is not an ideal start for any team but it will be the teams with most international players who suffer during this period. With only one more league match before the start of the Champions League group stages, there is not a lot more time for teams to finalise their tactics and plans before the real business starts again.
for The Silver Circle at www.footballtip.co.uk
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Dear Greg,
I've been a member since July 2003, maybe one of the first to join the Silver Circle.
2004 was a good year but I really enjoyed the long run we had in, I think, July 2005. It was exhilarating! 2006-2007 was not as exciting although still quite profitable and so far 2007-2008 looks quite good. I'm wondering if we're going to hit a long one again soon. Anyway, it's been a pleasure as always with your service, Greg. Armstrong and you are one of the few people I trust on the internet. You have made my retirement so much more fun and financially happy!
Best Wishes, Trent Wrayford, Sidney
