The Victors

Madrid are off to a pretty decent start this year, better than I was expecting. They played well in the loss at Betis on Friday - a place where they traditionally struggle - and lost because Mbappe uncharacteristically missed a bunch of chances. A couple close VAR decisions went against them, which will give RMTV weeks of content. They still have issues at right back because Dumfries is not a solution in a back four and they haven't figured out how to configure their team around Trent. Cuccurella is a huge upgrade over what they had at LB. It remains to be seen if their midfield can hold up against the better teams. That has been the issue for a few years now and it is amplified by the fact that they get so little defensive support from the front line. Needless to say, that front line is dangerous in attack, especially with Mourinho playing Jude so close to goal.

Villarreal are off to a slow start this year. They looked fine in the opener at Atleti but they have yet to win a match. They're going through a stylistic change because Inigo Perez (the manager who got little Rayo, the neighborhood club in Madrid whose stadium has been condemned, to a European final) so they might not be good now but they could be dangerous in a couple months. Last season, they were excellent in La Liga (they finished third) and embarrassing in the Champions League. On a possibly related note, they bought only 37 tickets in the away end at Westfalenstadion. (I refuse to use the corporate name.)

Betis are Betis. Pellegrini has been there forever and they keep playing a technical, attacking style that can leave them exposed at the back. They have a good front line (Abde, Isco, Antony, and Cucho) and a pair of attacking fullbacks (Bellerin and Fran Garcia) so they can create danger. Whether they can defend is a separate question. They kept a clean sheet against Madrid on Friday but that was with their keeper Valles playing the match of his life, including keeping out a penalty. They have won three of four in La Liga but the loss was a 5-2 thumping to Levante, so when it goes bad, it goes really bad.

Also, if you want a sign of either La Liga's economic problems or the harsh effects of Tebas's economic controls, Betis and Villarreal are the only two clubs in Spain other than the big three who paid more than 10M for a player this summer. Betis bought Troy Parrott for 16M and Villarreal bought Nathan Saliba for 15M.