La Liga Schedule 2015-16: List of Fixtures for New Primera Division Season
Spanish champions Barcelona will begin the defence of their Liga title against Athletic Club at the San Mames, while Rafael Benitez’s first league game as Real Madrid manager will see him tackle newly promoted side Sporting Gijon away from home.
The two Clasico matches will be played at the Santiago Bernabeu on November 8 and at the Nou Camp on April 3, per Nicholas Rigg of AS.
Barcelona will be bidding to get their season off to a flier after sampling treble glory in the last campaign. For their eternal rivals Real, league title wins are becoming worryingly scarce, having been crowned domestic champions just once in the last seven seasons.
Here’s the opening round of fixtures in full for the 2015/16 season, per Sport. A comprehensive fixture list for the entire season will follow shortly:
Round 1 Fixtures
Athletic Club vs. Barcelona
Malaga vs. Sevilla
Levante vs. Celta Vigo
Sporting Gijon vs. Real Madrid
Rayo Vallecano vs. Valencia
Espanyol vs. Getafe
Deportivo vs. Real Sociedad
Granada vs. Eibar
Real Betis vs. Villarreal
Atletico Madrid vs. Las Palmas
Visit La Liga's official website for the full set of fixtures.
Must-See Matchups
Barcelona vs. Real Madrid
These two remain the two most illustrious teams in European football, and given just how talented each squad is, the Clasico encounters are the most important in determining the eventual destination of the Liga title.
Last season, each team grabbed one win, but Barcelona’s 2-1 triumph at the Camp Nou late on in the campaign really knocked the stuffing out of Los Blancos’ title tilt. It was a game that Barcelona built from superbly, picking up the Copa del Rey and Champions League in the final knockings of the season.
The man tasked with dethroning the Catalonians is Benitez, and his appointment has left many raising a quizzical eyebrow. But as noted by Spanish football expert Rafael Hernandez, the former Valencia boss may be a shrewd acquisition:
It’ll be intriguing to see how his pragmatic principles marry up with Los Blancos’ surfeit of attacking players, Cristiano Ronaldo especially. Benitez is a manager renowned for delivering trophies, though, and if he can wrest La Liga back from the grasp of this brilliant Barcelona team, it’d be a major achievement.
Going to a venue like the Camp Nou and calculating a way to get out alive is the kind of skill Benitez has formulated his managerial career on.
But stopping a rampant Blaugrana team late in the season spearheaded by the genius of Lionel Messi, flair of Neymar and ferocity of Luis Suarez is a massive challenge.
Atletico Madrid vs. Valencia
After relinquishing their title in 2014-15, Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone will be hoping his team can get a lot closer to the top two in the upcoming campaign. But in Valencia, the capital club have a worthy rival for third spot in the table.
Indeed, there are plenty of similarities between these sides. Both are defensively sound, play with an unrelenting intensity and have a core of talented but diligent players. Whether either possesses the might to challenge Barca or Real remains to be seen, though.
Atletico probably still have the edge over Los Che. Simeone’s side underwent something of a facelift last season, and after a year of acclimatisation, players like Jan Oblak and Guilherme Siqueira should play a much more significant role in the team.
One signing who hit the ground running was Antoine Griezmann, and as noted by Squawka Football, he enjoyed a superb end to the season:
Valencia also turned on the style after the Christmas break. They surged up the table and looked capable of mounting a late title challenge at one point; although that faltered, getting Champions League football back at the Mestalla was a big step for the club.
Whenever Atletico are playing at the Vicente Calderon, the atmosphere is thunderous, but there’s something even more special in the air when a big team like Valencia come to town. As such, this encounter isn’t one to be missed.
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