Barcelona, Real Madrid's Rapid Starts Make Ominous Viewing for Rest of La Liga

It didn't take long.

Fans were still taking their seats at the Camp Nou, but already Barcelona were off and running. In trademark fashion, Lionel Messi, coming deep, had picked out Jordi Alba with a chipped, cross-field ball. Alba in turn found Arda Turan in the middle of the box—outside-of-the-boot flick, goal. Barcelona's season wasn't yet 400 seconds old, and already they were doing it.

Real Madrid needed even fewer. Only 73 seconds had passed at Anoeta a day later when Gareth Bale thumped a header past Geronimo Rulli from Dani Carvajal's cross. It was Bale being Bale—bigger, stronger; better—but it was the speed of it that was most striking.

Like Barcelona, Real Madrid had picked up where they left off.

It's as if summer never happened.

For clubs such as these, summers are typically a time for adjustment. Between seasons, such periods are used for vast strengthening, restructuring or upheaval on several levels. Most obvious are the changes that often occur within squads and in the dugouts, but just as significant can be alterations in one's tactical template, movement among the backroom staff and the tweaking of training methods—particularly with regard to the physiological concept of "peaking."

The knock-on effect of all of this is that clubs tend to enter new seasons still figuring things out, still working through issues. That might be more true now than ever before given the way football's current landscape demands clubs spend summers prioritising commercial activity over planning.

In short, you're not meant to start seasons at foot-to-the-floor speed. Ominously, though, it looks as though Barcelona and Real Madrid might be set to do so.

As the Catalans romped past Real Betis on Saturday, the overriding feeling was that the whole thing simply looked like a continuation of last season's late barrage.

Following their stumble in March and April last season, Luis Enrique's men recovered to clinch the league title by a point. It probably shouldn't have been as tight as it was, but Barcelona's response to their own slip was emphatic: five games, five wins, 24 goals for, zero against.

In that, Luis Suarez was the spearhead, scoring 14 of the 24. Around him, Messi became the unplayable creator-in-chief, Andres Iniesta's "Xavification" continued and Alba's penetration of the box became increasingly prominent. As the team snapped back into its groove, the results were devastating. Three months on, the picture looks no different.

Against Betis, Messi again dominated in a role that's growing more diverse, Alba caused havoc with his darting runs, and Suarez completed the demolition. There were other strong performers, too, but naturally the win came with the asterisk that it was only Betis and only Week 1.

But that also misses the point.

Barcelona haven't always started like this, particularly under Enrique. In the Asturian's two years in charge, the Blaugrana have worked their way into seasons, finding fluency and momentum as they've progressed rather than having it from the beginning. In 2014-15, a shift in emphasis and Suarez's integration had to be navigated, while last season, fatigue and strain on a small squad afflicted Enrique's men early on.

That's not the case now. Barcelona are settled as a club and as a team. On the back of a summer about recharging rather than restructuring, there's a "ready to go" look about them, and Real Madrid are the same.

Like Barcelona's victory over Betis, Madrid's win at Anoeta against Real Sociedad on Sunday saw the continuation of themes that emerged late last season.

Bale carried the assertiveness of a player ready to explode in attack, while Toni Kroos looked at ease in his left-sided midfield role. Carvajal also continued his excellent personal form that began with Zinedine Zidane's appointment in January, and Casemiro underpinned the team's work without the ball at the base of a system that became a 4-1-4-1 when defending.

Essentially, it was the Madrid of April and May: fast, powerful and balanced. Impressive. And like for Barcelona, citing the asterisk misses the point.

Real Sociedad aren't elite by any stretch, but Anoeta has become something of a graveyard for La Liga's elite. Just two seasons ago, all three of the league's heavyweights lost there, and Barcelona haven't left Anoeta with three points for nine years. But this time, Madrid made light work of it, and that's notable at such an early stage.

Madrid's "thing" in recent seasons has been to start with indifference. The causes have been multidimensional—managerial changes and squad upheaval, a lot of it needless—but the results have been consistent. Last season, the difficulties under Rafa Benitez began with a 0-0 draw to Sporting Gijon; in 2014-15, Madrid lost two of their first three; in 2013-14, they didn't get going until November; in 2012-13, they never got going at all.

A convincing 3-0 win away from home looks significant against such a backdrop. "It's important to start the league like this," Zidane said afterward.

Perhaps more impressive than the result itself was whom it was achieved without, and that also goes for Barcelona.

On Sunday, Madrid took on Real Sociedad without Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, Pepe and Keylor Navas but still delivered more of what Zidane has turned them into. A day earlier, Barcelona had been without Neymar, Iniesta and Javier Mascherano but didn't miss a beat.

It speaks volumes for the strength in depth of these sides. Behind his stars, Enrique has a supporting cast that features Denis Suarez, Turan, Lucas Digne, Samuel Umtiti and Andre Gomes. Zidane is similarly loaded with Marco Asensio, Alvaro Morata, James Rodriguez, Isco and Lucas Vazquez to call upon when he needs them.

"Drawing up the team makes my head throb," the Frenchman said Sunday.

This is why the quiet-for-their-standards summers of these clubs were ominous and why we predicted in these pages that this would be a rampant season at the top of La Liga. Already stacked with the best talent available—you can't improve on Messi, Suarez and Neymar, or on Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema—Barcelona and Madrid kept all the foundations in place and only applied subtle, finishing touches.

It's left both of them with defined XIs, tactical clarity, depth, certainty in their encompassing ideas and a greater feeling of calm. Not since 2011 have these rivals come out of a summer with such a look simultaneously, and it points to furious early pace.

On Saturday, Barcelona looked exactly like the 24-goals-in-five-games Barcelona that clinched the league title. Twenty-four hours later, Madrid looked exactly like the Madrid that pushed them all the way with 12 straight wins to finish.

It's as if summer never happened.

Follow @TimDCollins