Barcelona Stars Reportedly Suspicious of Tough 2015-16 La Liga Fixture Schedule

Barcelona players are reportedly angry and suspicious about their tough opening to the La Liga season following the recent publication of the fixture list.

The Catalan giants face Athletic Bilbao away on the opening day of the season, following two legs of the Spanish Super Cup against the same opposition in the preceding few days.

The Blaugrana's first home match is then against Malaga on the second weekend, a team they claimed just a single point off in their title-winning 2014-15 campaign.

According to Sport's Javier Miguel, players at the Barca training ground were heard saying: "It seems they want us to lose the league."

Week	Opposition
1	Athletic Bilbao (a)
2	Malaga (h)
3	Atletico Madrid (a)
4	Levante (h)
5	Celta de Vigo (a)
6	Las Palmas (h)
7	Sevilla (a)
8	Rayo Vallecano (h)
9	Eibar (h)
10	Getafe (a)
11	Villarreal (h)
12	Real Madrid (a)

While any fixing of the fixture list from the authorities seems unlikely, Luis Enrique's Treble-winners do have reason to be aggrieved.

The opening weekends of the 2015-16 season see them travel to Bilbao, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla, with the first Clasico against Real Madrid scheduled for early November at the Bernabeu.

Spanish football writer Rafael Hernandez suggests an even harder opening for Barca:

While the champions do indeed face a tough start to their defence, there are surely advantages to such a fixture list, not least that they will face strong opposition at the Camp Nou in the run-in.

As Europe's best side, they have the ability to make a decent start to the season no matter the opposition, and they can send out a strong message to the rest of the league by picking up early results away from home.

Rivals Real certainly have an easier start to the season under new boss Rafael Benitez, with Sporting Gijon, Real Betis and Espanyol their first three opponents.

However, the La Liga title cannot be decided in the opening few weeks, and while Barca have been unlucky, they have more than enough quality to handle the tricky start they have been given.