Morning headlines for August 16th
Gerard Pique: “I think we have a good enough team to get people excited, to compete for titles until the end of the season”
Gerard Pique for president. That’s the sentiment amongst many culers this Monday morning following the Catalan centre-back’s splendid week of service for Barcelona. First it was revealed that he’d taken a significant pay-cut to enable the club to register Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia, and then he scored the opening goal of the campaign against Real Sociedadat Camp Nou, the first in La Liga of the post-Lionel Messi era.
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Atletico Madrid are justified favourites to retain their La Liga crown
Although most bookmakers still opt for the big two, many seasoned La Liga observers are backing Atletico Madrid to continue their disruption to the duopoly and retain their title. They opened their campaign as defending champions with a 2-1 win over Celta Vigo at Balaidos and demonstrated a number of credentials to support the assertion that they can win again.
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Erik Lamela scores brace on Sevilla debut against Rayo Vallecano
Erik Lamela got his Sevilla and La Liga career off to a fantastic start on Sunday, scoring a brace at the Sanchez-Pizjuan in the Andalusian outfit’s 3-0 defeat of Rayo Vallecano. The Argentine joined Sevilla on a part-exchange with Tottenham Hotspur that saw Bryan Gil head to London, and will be delighted with his bow.
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