Real Madrid ready to dethrone Barca in La Liga

Soccer Betting Lines

08/27/2010 - Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid had an incredible season last year, but still finished three points behind Barcelona in Spain's La Liga.

The nine-time Champions League winner spent nearly $400 million last offseason, but not even the additions of former FIFA World Players of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka was enough to unseat Barca.

Real made more moves this offseason to end Barca's two-year title run, but it was the addition of manager Jose Mourinho that was the most important.

Mourinho won the Champions League, Italian Serie A and Coppa Italia last year with Inter Milan, but was lured to the Bernabeu this offseason.

"The Special One" also captured the Champions League with Portugal's FC Porto earlier in his career, and now faces the task of ending Real's La Liga and CL droughts.

Real last won the Champions League in 2002 and has been eliminated in the last 16 each of the last six seasons. The club last won La Liga in 2008, a drought that is only unacceptable in Madrid.

"Winning is the only thing that counts at Real Madrid," Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso said.

Mourinho allowed veterans Raul, Guti and Christoph Metzelder to leave Madrid, turning to youth with the signings of Angel di Maria, Pedro Leon, Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira and Sergio Canales.

Those four players cost Real around $85 million, and Argentina's di Maria is a talented 22-year-old who cost nearly half of that amount from Benfica. Khedira and Ozil, who cost a combined $34 million, both emerged for Germany during the recent FIFA World Cup. Leon and Canales are a pair of Spanish U-21 players who are the future of Spain's senior team.

Veteran Ricardo Carvalho, who played under Mourinho at Porto and Chelsea, was also brought in from Chelsea to solidify the defense.

Alonso, who was signed from Liverpool last season, believes Madrid will have a strong team this season, but it could take some time to completely get used to Mourinho.

"The team is still evolving. The internationals rejoined the squad throughout the preseason following the World Cup. The coach needs time for the players to act out his new ideas on the pitch. We have to continue working, but we will improve with time," Alonso said.

Barcelona had more notable departures this summer as Thierry Henry, Yaya Toure and Dmytro Chygrynskiy all left, but Pep Guardiola does have one new toy this season in Spain striker David Villa.

Villa joined Barca from Valencia for more than $50 million, adding another one of the pieces of Spain's World Cup squad to the already impressive club. Barca is also close to signing Argentina defensive midfielder Javier Mascherano, who would strengthen the best club midfield in the world.

Barca held off Real last season by three points, although it suffered just one loss in La Liga. With both teams again the class of La Liga, all that really is yet to be decided is which finishes first and which finishes second.

On Saturday, Hercules hosts Athletic Bilbao, Malaga hosts Valencia and Levante hosts Sevilla as the La Liga season kicks off.

Barca visits Racing and Real Madrid visits Mallorca on Sunday, when Deportivo hosts Real Zaragoza, Espanyol hosts Getafe, Real Sociedad hosts Villarreal and Osasuna hosts Almeria.

Atletico Madrid, which beat Inter Milan in the UEFA Super Cup on Friday, opens against Sporting Gijon on Monday.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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