Real Madrid: 5 Games to Look Forward to in 2011/12

Real Madrid's preseason preparations are soon coming to a close after traveling to the USA, Germany, and England. Currently training in China, readying themselves to play Guangzhou Evergrande and Tianjin Teda, Los Blancos are keeping one eye on their season-opening game against arch-rivals Barcelona in the Supercopa Espana on August 14th.

Looking ahead, here is a preview of Madrid games that promise to be especially entertaining.

Supercopa Espana vs. Barcelona (both Legs)

Date: August 14th (Santiago Bernabeu) & August 17th (Camp Nou), 2011

As Copa del Rey champions, Real Madrid will face off against La Liga winners, Barcelona, in a two-legged event to determine who will take home the Supercopa Espana.

In 2010, Barcelona defeated then-Copa del Rey holders Sevilla on an aggregate of 5-3, losing 3-1 in Seville, but coming back for a 4-0 win in Catalunya. Both Real Madrid and Barcelona have strong home records and weaker away records, which could make the two results at the end of both legs very interesting.

Barcelona have the advantage of playing at home in the second leg. By the time they play in the Camp Nou, they will know what they have to do in order to add the Supercopa to their trophy cabinet -- whether that's scoring a certain amount of goals or making sure Real don't score (I'm not implying a defensive formation).

It is a pretty well-known fact these two teams are bitter, bitter enemies. These are two games that will be contested to win a trophy directly after which will, in turn, motivate these two sides to challenge even stronger for bragging rights. Not to mention the rivalry of each team's main striker, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, for who is the better player.

La Liga, to be blunt, is definitely a two horse race (in all honesty the relegation can get more interesting at times) between Real Madrid and Barcelona. These two matches could give good insight on which team will have the upper hand.

El Clasico: League (Home and Away)

Dates: December 10th/11th, 2011 (Santiago Bernabeu) & April 21st/22nd, 2012 (Camp Nou)

As with the Supercopa matches, this a derby and a hard-fought one at that. Both clubs will be playing with twice the motivation to win, which will only add to the excitement of a game between the two best teams in the world.

The first El Clasico is taking place right before the winter break, with only one game (against Sevilla) in between the break and El Clasico. Both Madrid and Barca would like to go into the break at the top of the table, or at least ahead of the other.

As mentioned in the slide before, La Liga is pretty much a two-horse race between Real Madrid and Barcelona, so these matches are often title-deciders. For example, El Clasico de la Manita, the 5-0 Barca win over Madrid last season, changed the standings in the league. Real was above Barca until that game and they didn't pass them for the rest of the season.

The second El Clasico is set to happen only three games from the end of season. This match could potentially be a title-sealer. Because this match is so close to the end of the season the title-race could possibly be dragged out until than.

Real Madrid vs. Athletic Bilbao

Date: August 20th/21st, 2011 (Santiago Bernabeu)

It's the first game of the season and the first game at home. This game will be Real Madrid's first league game for almost three months. What's not to look forward to?

Last season Athletic Bilbao finished 6th with 58 points and a goal difference of +4. They also managed to draw with powerhouse Barcelona in both legs of the Cope del Rey semi-final, a feat that's become impressive in La Liga.

World-Cup winners Fernando Llorente and Javi Martinez (the latter captaining Spain to U-21 European glory), are currently two of Bilbao's biggest stars. U-21 Euro Champions Mikel San Jose, new purchase Ander Herrera, and La Liga yougest-ever goalscorer Iker Muniain also don the red-and-white of the Basques.

El Derbi Madrileno (Home and Away)

Dates: November 26th/27th, 2011 (Santiago Bernabeu) & April 10th/11th, 2012 (Vicente Calderon)

The Madrid neighbours will be fighting it out on the pitch to find the answer to 'who is the best team in Madrid?'. Last season, the two clubs faced each other four times, with a total of 22 yellow cards and 10 goals over the games.

Atleti ended 2010/11 season in 7th, right after Athelic Bilbao, with 58 points and a goal difference of +9. Former Atletico Madrid player Kun Aguero made the top-scorer list with 20 goals, finishing behind only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Exciting young goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois will be loaned to Atletico for the season to gain first-team experience at a high level. The Belgian was purchased from Belgian Pro-League outift Racing Genk by Chelsea for an undisclosed fee. If he plays against Real Madrid, it could always be interesting to see how good he actually is.

Real Madrid vs. Valencia

Date: April 7th/8th, 2011 (Santiago Bernabeu)

Valencia are the team most likely to challenge Madrid and Barca for the title, if they can make things go their way. Most recently, Real thrashed Valencia 6-3 in Mestalla with goals from Benzema, a hat-rtick by Higuain, and a brace from Kaka. For Valencia, Soldado, Jonas, and Jordi Alba scored.

This game, like last season, comes at a difficult time for Madrid. In the weeks after this game, they will have to face rivals Atletico Madrid, difficult opponents Sporting Gijon, and finally the second El Clasico. This game is a must-win because if Madrid fail to come out triumphant, it will be absolutely necessary to defeat Atleti, Gijon, and Barcelona. Gijon has proven they know how to win against Madrid and Barcelona.