‘West Ham were three hours away from appointing Rafa Benitez’

A good start was seen as key to Madrid’s bid to win just a second La Liga title in eight years with Barca and Atletico facing on paper a much harder start to the campaign. Each of them has their own attributes and qualities. “I ask the supporters to be calm, we’ll play with intensity, we’ll score goals, we’re confident and we know what we have to do”.

Ahead of tonight’s home opener against newly-promoted Real Betis, however, Benitez referenced the fact Los Blancos had 27 shots at El Molinon.

“Everyone can have an opinion about where to put him but I have to manage a group to win that game and I am thinking of the whole competition and in the season where I have to handle the whole group dynamic in addition to line-ups”, he added.

TheDaily Star claim United are willing to offer Real Madrid £65million plus David De Gea to lure the Welsh worldwide to Old Trafford.

Madrid should be boosted by the return of Karim Benzema up front from a thigh injury after he returned to training on Tuesday. If James didn’t play it was due to a technical decision and not a personal matter. Gerard Pique is out because of a suspension.

“At Real Madrid every game is a final”, Nacho told his club’s official website. Real Betis also had a 1- 1 draw in their opening match against Villareal.

Barcelona has beaten Malaga in nine of their last 10 league meetings at the Camp Nou, but the lone loss came last season, a 1-0 defeat that allowed Real Madrid to open a four-point lead at the time.

“We had a goalless draw and people call me defensive”. Barca coach Luis Enrique could have Neymar back after illness, reuniting the club’s lethal attack of the Brazil forward, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, who netted a Spanish record 122 goals among them last season.