La Liga
Real Madrid, the defending champion, of Spain will start its La Liga campaign against UD Almeria. Madrid has had a good transfer window, signing centre-back Antonio Rudiger from Chelsea on a free transfer. It also signed Aurelien Tchouameni from Monaco to strengthen its defensive midfield position.
Real Madrid’s arch-rival Barcelona starts its La Liga campaign against Rayo Vallecano. Despite its financial constraints, Barcelona has arguably had the best transfer window in Europe. It has signed Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Franck Kessie, Andres Christensen and Jules Kounde and it might not be done yet.
Real Madrid and Barcelona are mainly expected to compete for the title but Diego Simone’s Atletico Madrid which won the title in the 2020-21 season, will provide tough competition.
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Bundesliga
Bayern Munich will start as the champion of the Bundesliga for the 11th consecutive season. Bayern has signed some big names in the summer with Sadio Mane and Matthijs de Ligt arguably being the biggest two.
Apart from them, Mathys Tel, Ryan Gravenberch and Noussair Mazraoui are the other signings by the German champion.
Bayern would need to get used to life without talisman Robert Lewandowski after his departure to FC Barcelona. Lewandowski has been the main source of goals for the German giant during his tenure at the club and filling his void will be anything but easy for manager Julian Nageslamann.
Bayern plays its first match of the season against Europa League champion Eintracht Frankfurt.
It is difficult to imagine anyone except Bayern winning the title at the end of the season, with the club having 10 on the trot. However, Bayern, like past seasons, will face competition from Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig mainly who will look to make hinder the progress of the Bavarians.
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Serie A
AC Milan will start the season as Serie A champion for the first time since the 2011-12 season. Paolo Maldini has been hailed after taking on the role of Milan’s Technical Director for the way he has conducted operations, especially in the transfer market.
This season too Milan has made some good signings. Junior Messias from Crotone, Alessandro Florenzi from AS Roma and Divock Origi have signed for the club.
Milan will play its first match of the season against Udinese.
The Milan clubs have dominated the Serie A recently. After Inter won the 2020-21 season, AC Milan won last season. 36-time champion Juventus, which won the league for nine seasons consecutively from 2011-12 to 2019-20 will look to bounce back from its slump and claim the top spot in the league again. Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma, which recently signed Paolo Dybala, might also surprise.
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Ligue 1
Ligue 1, over the last decade, has been dominated by Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). Only Nice, in the 2020-21 season could derail PSG’s dominance after it clinched the title under the tutelage of Christophe Galtier. So, what did PSG do? Sign the man as its manager after sacking Mauricio Pochettino despite the Argentine guiding the club to the league title last season.
After dominating the league over the last decade, Galtier will look to guide his team to a Champions League title, which is the holy grail for the club. After faltering in the competition in crucial stages repeatedly and failing to win the final in the 2019-20, winning Europe’s premier competition will be PSG’s main agenda.
(From L-R): Paris Saint-Germain’s (PSG) Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar. | Photo Credit: Issei Kato/REUTERS
Ahead of the season, PSG has a star-studded team. The biggest takeaway for the club was tying Kylian Mbappe to a new contract after a lengthy transfer saga where the Frenchman was touted for a move to Real Madrid. Apart from Mbappe, the presence of Lionel Messi and Neymar in the front three is enough to hound any defence in the world.
PSG has made some interesting addition to its ranks in Vitinha, Nuno Mendes and Nordi Mukiele till now. It remains to be seen whether it makes any more additions before the window closes.
It plays its first match of the season against Clermont Foot on August 7.
Like Bayern in the Bundesliga, it is difficult to see anyone expect PSG lift the league title at the end of the season. Nice, which managed to break the PSG dominance, has lost players and its title-winning manager has joined the Paris club. While football can always throw up a surprise, it is unlikely that anyone would challenge PSG for the title.
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**(All dates are written according to IST)**
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