A bevy of goals, rash conclusions and wildly fluctuating opinions: Yep, football is well and truly back.
In Spain, the international break that arrived after just two rounds of action in La Liga gave the new season a sort of false-start feel, but the domestic league's return over the weekend reminded us of football's love affair with hasty judgements.
Just three weeks ago Real Madrid couldn't score, or so they said, Rafa Benitez was too defensive, his new system wasn't working, Gareth Bale's new position was all wrong and the whole thing at the Bernabeu was just months away from Armageddon.
"Five barren games under Benitez," cried Marca after a scoreless draw with Sporting Gijon, the Madrid-based daily bemoaning an "alarming lack of cutting edge" and a record in front of goal that made for "worrying reading." Just 20 days later, after consecutive 5-0 and 6-0 thrashings of Real Betis and Espanyol, Marca was celebrating a "BBC goal glut," Real Madrid's "outgunning" of Barcelona, the way Bale "purred creatively" and the merits of Benitez's affection for "rotation, rotation, rotation."
What a difference, well, 11 goals make, huh?
Somewhere amongst all this, though, the old saying that "things are never as good, nor as bad as they seem"—something this column has attempted to stress—is being lost in all the noise.
The return of the Champions League on Tuesday, then, comes at a nice time for Real Madrid. In welcoming Shakhtar Donetsk to the Bernabeu, Los Blancos, and those who monitor them, will get a better indication of where this team is at under Benitez. A clash against a Champions League regular is likely to be a significantly sterner test than those put forward by Sporting, Betis and Espanyol—three clubs likely to be in La Liga's relegation fight all season.
Match Details
Date: Tuesday, September 15
Time: 7:45 p.m. BST / 2:45 p.m. EDT / 8:45 p.m. local
Venue: Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain
TV Info: BT Sport (UK), Fox Sports (U.S.)
Live Stream: BT Sport Online Player (UK), Fox Sports Go (U.S.).99
Source: Bleacherreport
