Saturday's kickoff in the Spanish league may attract greater attention following Spain's World Cup triumph, but one detail seems unlikely to change - the season will again come down to a duel between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Last season's revamped 'galactico' experiment failed to deliver Madrid any silverware, so president Florentino Perez turned his attention to the coach and replaced Manuel Pellegrini with the self-proclaimed 'Special One,' Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho's record is tried and tested and the Portuguese coach is expected to at least end a record four-game losing streak against Barcelona and ensure a party at Plaza Cibeles for the first time since a league triumph in 2008.
Mourinho, who won Champions League titles for Inter Milan and FC Porto as well as five trophies with Chelsea, appears the man to match Madrid's ambition.
''I want to make history,'' Mourinho said. ''I'll never say 'enough'.''
A year after spending over ?250 million ($343 million) on players, Madrid has invested a quarter of that this summer, with Benfica winger Angel Di Maria the biggest expenditure at ?25 million ($31.7 million). Germany playmaker Mesut Oezil and Mourinho favorite Ricardo Carvalho of Chelsea have also arrived.
With Kaka out until at least December, Oezil and teenage midfielder Sergio Canales are the most likely fill-ins to complement Cristiano Ronaldo, who not only leads the attack but a new Madrid era, following the exits of Raul Gonzalez and Jose Maria ''Guti'' Gutierrez. Only goalkeeper Iker Casillas remains from one of the most successful periods of Madrid's history.
While Mourinho has had to implement his system from scratch, Barcelona's dismantling of Sevilla in the Spanish Supercup shows it has not skipped a beat.
Barcelona now has eight players from the World Cup-winning team after David Villa's ?40 million ($51 million) move from Valencia. The Spain striker had no trouble fitting in with the two-time defending league champion's in Saturday's 4-0 win over Sevilla, with Lionel Messi scoring a hat-trick to show Argentina's South Africa campaign was a distant memory.
''It won't take him long to fit in,'' midfielder Sergio Busquets said. ''The philosophy of Barcelona and the national team are very similar.''
Barcelona supporters are hopeful coach Pep Guardiola can harvest more talent from the team's academy as the departures of Yaya Toure, Rafael Marquez and Dmytro Chygrynskiy have left vacancies that are most likely to be filled from within as the club endures tough economic times.
Striker Bojan Krkic will get more playing time which could leave Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the bench, and the sulking Sweden striker could prove to be a big problem for the Catalan club's harmony.
However with Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta orchestrating the attack, the season is likely to come down to the two ''clasico'' matches: Nov. 28 at the Camp Nou and Apr. 17 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
''For the good of football let's hope the league doesn't come down to only two teams,'' Busquets said. ''It's true that Barca and Real Madrid are two of the best teams in the league due to the quality of their squads, so the title fight could be fierce.''
Looking at the best of the rest, it's hard to pinpoint any team with a chance of being in the race come Christmas.
Brazil striker Luis Fabiano leads a largely unchanged Sevilla lineup that finished fourth last season - 36 points off Barcelona - and should reach the Champions League places. But the 5-3 aggregate loss to Barcelona in the Supercup demonstrated the gulf between Barcelona and the rest.
''If we play at this level I can't see any team beating us,'' Villa said.
Valencia is unlikely to match last season's third-place finish after unloading three of its Spanish internationals this summer.
Villa's move to Barcelona takes away most of its goals, and winger David Silva's exit for Manchester City provided extra funds for the debt-ridden club but left Juanma Mata all alone in attack. Mata will have to work with Chori Dominguez, Roberto Soldado and Aritz Aduritz now.
Valencia also allowed defender Carlos Marchena to leave for Villarreal, while veteran midfielder Ruben Baraja has gone too.
Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero alone give Atletico Madrid a chance at a top-four finish and the Champions League places. Atletico has also bolstered last-season's defense with the signing of Filipe Luis from Deportivo La Coruna and Uruguay center back Diego Godin of Villarreal while retaining Portugal midfielder Tiago on loan from Juventus.
It's a scramble for the Europa League spots after that, with Joaquin Caparros' attack-minded Athletic Bilbao in contention for a top-six finish with World Cup winners Fernando Llorente and Javi Martinez leading the young Basque team. Forward Iker Muniain - a 17-year-old some have labeled a Spanish Wayne Rooney - is also likely to get more playing time.
Villarreal will also look to recover from a substandard campaign with Giuseppe Rossi and Brazil striker Nilmar leading the attack.
Real Sociedad returns to topflight football after three seasons in the second division, while Levante and Hercules also earned promotion. Real Sociedad - a two-time league champion - returns after three seasons in the second division.
