Atletico Madrid scored their second consecutive victory in the Spanish league, while Barcelona fans saw a glimpse of the future of the team without Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, and Real Madrid appeared in a familiar lineup.
When Zinedine Zidane returned to training in March, he promised to "revolution, not just develop". Local media reported at the time that the return of the French coach came after accepting his request to fully dominate the transfer and player deals and allow him to form the team as envisaged.
Real spent more than 300 million euros ($ 334 million) on four players, and Zidane's promises appeared to be on the way.
But after the injury of Eden Hazard, who took the lion's share of the total value of the deals, Real Madrid appeared far from what Zidane promised in a 1-1 draw against Valladolid in their first home game of the season.
| Guardiola striker celebrates scoring the equalizer against Real Madrid (Reuters) |
The Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was the only one in the starting lineup that was not part of the team that won the first of the last three Champions League in 2016 led by Zidane, and participated the pair away from the team since the time of Rodriguez and Gareth Bale in the starting lineup.
The current transfer period ends on September 2, but it seems that the future of Real Madrid will be linked to the return of the old guard.
Atletico Madrid, which has nine new players after losing three of its four key defenders, and French striker Antoine Griezmann at the end of last season, are all the same.
The squad is certainly a whole new face for Atletico under coach Diego Simeone, even if the team's structure remains unchanged.
The team is still playing its preferred way 4-4-2 with four players to close the midfield area with the four defenders providing the required depth.
But as long as the team runs this way, there is no need to change it, and the newcomers quickly merged with the team that won the first two matches 1-0 to become one of only two teams to achieve the full mark.
Barcelona, after the surprise defeat to Athletic Bilbao in the opening game of the season, turned all eyes to the injured team during the hosting of Real Betis in the absence of attacking trio Messi, Suarez and Osman Dembele.
Things started badly after Nabil Fakir took the lead to beat Betis 1-0. Catalan 5-2.
In addition to the French striker, 21-year-old Carles Perez made an impressive performance in his debut and scored an impressive goal.
Coach Ernesto Valverde gave the fans the chance to see one of Barcelona's talents in the future, when he pushed Anso Vatti, the second youngest player in the club's history at the age of 16 and 298 days.