In the weeks leading up to the start of the new La Liga season in Spain, much of the talk had focused on the increasing predictability of the Real Madrid and Barcelona duopoly.
After all, last year’s runners up Real had been busy yet again this summer assembling another new look team with their new look manager. Whilst Barcelona, for all their financial woes, had still found room to sign David Villa.
The Bundesliga is off and running and this weekend delivered the second round of league matches for the 2010/11 season. The British press will be keeping a particularly keen eye on the competition this campaign as they wait to see if Steve McClaren can follow up his successful two-year tenure at FC Twente with another league title in a new country.
Whilst McClaren's new employers Wolfsburg should be in the mix of the title race, the focus will also be on some usual suspects. Lois van Gaal's Bayern Munich will be the team for everyone else to beat after they secured a domestic league and cup double last season and almost claimed the Champions League as well. Another strong contender is Schalke 04, runners-up last time out and managed by Felix Magath- a man who has already won the Bundesliga 3 times with Bayern and Wolfsburg.
The French league got underway on 7th August, and whilst the season may only be two fixtures old the Ligue 1 table already has an interesting look to it. For a start the current champions Marseille have managed to lose both of their two opening games, to Caen and Valenciennes respectively. The latter may have finished in a respectable 10th place last season but Caen is the real surprise package...
After much speculation and some predictable developments Cardiff City have secured Craig Bellamy on a season-long loan deal. The Welsh capital team are amongst the strong favourites for Championship promotion after their performances last season saw them finish fourth and narrowly lose the play-off final to Ian Holloway's Blackpool 3-2.
Now having secured Bellamy in their quest for the Premier League, Cardiff City have made a massive statement to the rest of the Championship contenders. By placing the erstwhile striker up front with the impressive Michael Chopra, Dave Jones' team have a forward line-up that would be intimidating enough for rivals in the Premier League alone.
Time draws near for the beginning of the new football seasons across Europe. This weekend (aghh tomorrow- time waits for no fan then!) the Football League will get up and running again in England. The following weekend will be the Premier League’s turn (August 14th).
In fact one of the Premier League clubs have already got their season underway- Liverpool having just begun in their quest to emulate Roy Hodgson's former team Fulham. By entering the Europa League at the third qualifying round they face the prospect of a long and arduous season, but Liverpool fans will be hopeful that their new manager can raise his team to the challenge like he did last season.