Real Madrid starts Spanish title defence at Depor

Given a choice of venues to kick off its bid for a third straight Spanish league title, Real Madrid would probably have put Deportivo La Coruna's Riazor Stadium near the bottom of the list.

Madrid has not won there since 1991 - its second-worst away drought, behind only the 20 years it went between wins at Barcelona's Camp Nou between 1983 and 2003.

The perennial Spanish powerhouse hasn't even earned a point at Deportivo since 2002, and it is not only the venue for Sunday's season opener that is causing headaches for Real Madrid.

It goes into the match after a frustrating week in which two transfer targets - Valencia striker David Villa and Villarreal attacking midfielder Santi Cazorla - both rejected moves to the Bernabeu.

The champions hoped Villa and Cazorla's arrivals would compensate for the expected departure of Brazil forward Robinho to Chelsea before Sunday night's transfer deadline.

Instead, they remained outside the clutches of the champions, as did Madrid's most coveted transfer target, Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo, who announced earlier this month he was staying with the European champions.

The setbacks came three days after coach Bernd Schuster's team beat Valencia 4-2 to win its first title of the season, the Spanish Supercup, despite the ejections of striker Ruud van Nistelrooy and newly signed midfielder Rafael van der Vaart.

The pair are therefore suspended for the visit to Deportivo, while another of Madrid's five Dutchmen, midfielder Wesley Sneijder, is sidelined through injury until November.

Madrid will start the season with two of its three players who helped Spain win the European Championship in June - goalkeeper Iker Casillas and defender Sergio Ramos. Midfielder Ruben De La Red, who has rejoined after a season's loan with Getafe, is expected to be on the bench.

Deportivo will be confident of extending Madrid's Galician drought following a huge improvement in the second half of last season which vaulted it to a ninth-place finish.

Barcelona starts a season without former coach Frank Rijkaard and playmaker Ronaldinho for the first time since 2002.

Rijkaard has been replaced by former iconic player Pep Guardiola, who makes his first-division coaching debut on Sunday when he takes Barcelona to promoted Numancia.

Guardiola, formerly the reserve team coach, says his team will have to work hard.

"I take it as given that the stadiums of recently promoted teams are really difficult," the 38-year-old said.

Guardiola's run of seven preseason wins ended on Tuesday when Barcelona lost 1-0 to Wisla Krakow in the Champions League qualifying second leg, although it still reached the group phase on a 4-1 aggregate.

Samuel Eto'o is expected to lead Barcelona's attack together with Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi, who last weekend won a gold medal with Argentina at the Beijing Olympics.

Guardiola retained Eto'o after initially deciding he was surplus to requirements like Ronaldinho and Deco, who have joined Milan and Chelsea respectively.

Barcelona's new defenders - Daniel Alves, Martin Caceres and Gerard Pique - together with its midfield arrivals, Alexander Hleb and Seydou Keita, are all in contention for a place in the line up.

Numancia, which will be in the charge of new coach Sergio Kresic, has been accompanied into the first division by Malaga and Sporting Gijon.

Malaga, under returning coach Antonio Tapia, kicks off on Sunday by hosting Atletico Madrid, which is celebrating reaching the Champions League group phase after trouncing Schalke 4-0 on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Gijon's first top-flight match for a decade comes against Getafe, which is now managed by Victor Munoz.

Last season's runner-up, Villarreal, travels to Osasuna on Sunday without injured midfielder Robert Pires together with strikers Nihat Kahveci and Giuseppi Rossi.

The absence of the attacking duo, who scored 29 of the team's 63 goals last season, may mean a Spanish league debut for United States striker Jozy Altidore, who joined the club from New York.

The season begins on Saturday when Espanyol, and new coach Bartolome "Tintin" Marquez, hosts Valladolid.

Later that evening, Villa is guaranteed a warm reception for resisting Madrid's advances as Valencia begins its bid to improve on last season's 10th-place when it meets Mallorca.

Valencia coach Unai Emery - at 36, the youngest in the club's history -will be making his league debut in charge.

Three other team - Racing Santander, Almeria and Recreativo Huelva - will also be under new coaches this weekend, making nine in total.

Santander hosts Sevilla, Almeria visits Athletic Bilbao, while Recreativo is away at Real Betis.

Sapa-AP