La Liga Schedule 2018-19: Official List of Fixtures for New Primera Division

Defending La Liga champions Barcelona will face Deportivo la Coruna at home on the opening day of the 2018-19 La Liga season.

After his team lost just one game on their road to top-flight glory last term, Ernesto Valverde will be keen to see his side defend their crown.

Meanwhile, a new era at Real Madrid begins against Getafe at the Santiago Bernabeu. All eyes will be on new manager Julen Lopetegui as he steps in to replace Zinedine Zidane and looks to fill the void left by the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo.

The two great rivals meet in their Clasico matches on October 28 in Barcelona and on March 3 in Madrid. Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid will start their 2018-19 season with a testing clash away at Valencia.

Here are the fixtures in full for the upcoming La Liga season and what to expect from one of the most anticipated campaigns in years.

Selected La Liga Fixtures

Week 1:

Week 38:

The full list of fixtures can be found on the Seleccion Espanola website.           

Barcelona Out to Capitalise on Real's Summer of Transition

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While Barcelona coasted to the title last season, their 2018-19 La Liga term ended on something of a bittersweet note.

For long spells, the Blaugrana were poised to go through the campaign unbeaten, but they suffered a shock 5-4 loss to Levante in the penultimate game of the season. It meant Valverde and his side came up just short of a historic achievement.

Still, they were the standout side in the division and in Lionel Messi had the competition's finest player. These figures summed up the incredible impact he had on his team:

This season there will potentially be more intrigue surrounding Real Madrid, though, as they begin life after Zidane and Ronaldo.

The former resigned from his post after winning three UEFA Champions League titles in succession, while the latter moved to Juventus. It means the club will be without colossal figures from on and off the pitch in what has been one of the most dominant spells in Real's history.

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It also means new manager Lopetegui has a huge job do to, not only to galvanise this group of players after so much success, but also to fill the void of a goalscorer extraordinaire like Ronaldo. As journalist Jason Pettigrove noted, there is a lot of work for the new man to get through:

While it's expected the two big names will fight it out for the title again this season, Atletico Madrid have enjoyed a prosperous summer.

Not only do they appear to have secured a coup in landing Thomas Lemar from Monaco, but star forward Antoine Griezmann also signed a new contract at the Wanda Metropolitano despite persistent links to Barcelona.

Having won the UEFA Europa League last season and with manager Diego Simeone at the helm, they'll be hopeful of capitalising in a campaign of transition for their city rivals and will want to be in a strong position should Barcelona's standards sag.