FC Barcelona kick off the second consecutive defence of the league title with a trip to the north coast where they meet Racing Santander in El Sardinero on Sunday evening (19.00, R@dio Barça). Pep Guardiola's team start the season in Cantabria and the excitement and expectation is sky high after the team secured their first trophy last weekend when beating Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup. Now the side are faced with a fresh challenge as David Villa, Adriano and all the regular stars aim to become the only other outfit apart from Johan Cruyff's Dream Team to win more than two league titles in a row in Barça's history.
Ready for the off
The Blaugrana have shown in pre-season that they have not lost any of their desire nor have they seen a change of style or a drop in their level. After friendly wins in Norway and the Far East the Catalan outfit bounced back to win the Spanish Super Cup before having their last pre-season test in midweek against AC Milan in the Trofeo Gamper.
Debut days
Barça have travelled to Santander with 18 players after leaving Zlatan Ibrahimovic , Aliaksandr Hleb and Martín Cáceres out. Villa and Adriano have both already played in their new club's colours, but this encounter could mark their league debuts. Samuel Eto’o, Deco, Ludovic Giuly, Henrik Larsson, Thierry Henry and Yaya Touré all made their first appearances for the team in El Sardinero as Barça have met Racing six times on the opening day away from home and four times in the past 12 seasons.
All change
For the hosts it has been another summer of change as coach Miguel Ángel Portugal looked to improve on last term's finish of 16th place. The club's rising starlet Sergio Canales completed his move to Real Madrid and experienced heads such as José Moratón, Toni Moral and Luis García all left. While Barça's Henrique saw his loan deal renewed, the club signed six new faces, including former Championship Manager favourite Kennedy Bakircoglü from Ajax, Adrían González from Getafe and Cisma.
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