La Liga champions Atletico Madrid begin their title defence with a trip to Rayo Vallecano on Tuesday.
Where to Watch Live
The match is set to start at 09.30 pm EST and BST (1.30 am IST), with live coverage on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD2 in India. The match can also be watched via live streaming online in India HERE. Catch the action in the UK on Sky Sports 5, with the option to live stream the match online HERE or HERE.
Viewers in the US and Canada can watch Atletico's first La Liga game on Bein Sports USA and Bein Sports Canada respectively, while the game can also be live streamed HERE. Audience in the Middle East and North Africa can catch the action via live streaming HERE, while South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa viewers can do the same HERE.
Overview
Atletico will be high on confidence following their 2-1 (aggregate) triumph over rivals Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup.
Despite the departure of several key players - Diego Costa, Filipe Luis, Thibaut Courtois (all Chelsea), David Villa (New York City) and Adrian (Porto) - Los Rojiblancos seem to be doing quite well.
Their new signings Mario Mandzukic (Bayern Munich), Antoine Griezmann (Real Sociedad), Miguel Moya (Getafe), Guilherme Siqueira (Granada), Jesus Gamez (Malaga) and Raul Jimenez (Club America) seem to have integrated well as Atletico were pretty impressive in preseason, winnig five out of the seven fixtures.
However, manager Diego Simeone knows his side will face a difficult task of defending the La Liga title, now that rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona have added some big names to their squads this summer.
"Barcelona, even in a bad season for them, almost won the league," Goal quoted Simeone as saying. "And Madrid as well. If they had beaten Valencia [in their 35th game of the season] they would have been top."
Still, the Argentine tactician says he is concentrating on one match at a time.
"It is very difficult to compete across so many fixtures. But we are competitive over 90 minutes."
Atletico are expected to triumph in their opening game as they have a good record (losing only one game since 1999) against Rayo.
However, Rayo, who themselves have been busy in the transfer market this summer, will be hoping to stun the Spanish champions.
Manager Paco Jemez has reinforced the team over the summer, adding the likes of Gael Kakuta, Javier Aquino, Jonathan Pereira, Leo Baptistao, Lica and Abdoulaye Ba (all on loan), Jozabed and Alejandro Pozuelo (on free transfers).
Jemez, who will now be hoping to improve his side's 12th place finish in the La Liga last season, feels that his team has improved both quality and numbers wise and will do better this season.
"We'll have to see that we can still keep getting better. We're trying to reach the game in good shape, our work-rate has been very high and with time, we'll carry on doing better. We're here to compete well and the team knows how they have to play and move, but we'll mature with time," Jemez told Inside Spanish Football.
However, he insists that they will be having a tough time against Atletico in their opening fixture.
"They're a difficult team to play against. Defensively they're very compact, solid and show plenty of sacrifice. In attack they leave things more to the individual talent of their players, but from a defensive point of view, they're a very hard-working team and they've brought players in specifically for that."
Team News
Atletico Madrid: Los Rojiblancos will be without the services of Raul Garcia for this game as he is suspended. Arda Turan is also set to miss out as he is suffering from a hamstring injury.
Apart from them, Simeone has a full squad to choose from. The Argentine, however, has to watch his side's opening fixture from the bench as he has incurred a ban after being sent off during Atletico's Super Cup clash against Real.
Rayo Vallecano: Jemez, on the other hand, has no injury concerns, apart from new signing Antonio Amaya who is currently recovering from a muscle tear.
