Barcelona, Real or Atletico?

The new La Liga season gets underway this weekend, so how are the big three title contenders shaping up?

Champions Barcelona start their campaign at home to Real Betis on Sky Sports 3 on Saturday, with Real Madrid travelling to Real Sociedad and Atletico hosting Alaves on Sky Sports 1 on Sunday.

It promises to be another fascinating title race after last season’s thrilling finale, so what are Barca, Real and Atletico’s prospects for 2016/17?

Barcelona

Ins

Andre Gomes (Valencia, £47.1m), Samuel Umtiti (Lyon, £21.2m), Lucas Digne (Lyon, £14m), Denis Suarez (Villarreal, £2.7m)

Outs

Marc Bartra (Borussia Dortmund, £6.8m), Alen Halilovic (Hamburg, £4.25m), Adriano (Besiktas, £500,000), Christian Tello (Fiorentina, loan), Alex Song (Rubin Kazan, free), Thomas Vermaelen (Roma, loan), Dani Alves (Juventus, free), Martin Montoya (Valencia, free), Sandro Ramirez (Malaga, free)

Why they can win it

Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar scored a jaw-dropping 90 La Liga goals between them last season, and they remain the deadliest front three in world football. Luis Enrique has added squad depth, too, with Andre Gomes and Denis Suarez bolstering the midfield, and Samuel Umtiti and Lucas Digne strengthening the defence. It’s easy to see why he’s calling it his best squad since taking over at Barcelona.

Why they can’t

It could be argued that Barcelona are overly-reliant on ‘MSN’. Their results tended to dip when the trio were off-colour or injured last season, and while they have strengthened other areas, they still don’t …

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