Our brainy chums at chickendinner are backing Los Blancos

Once the sangria induced hangovers have cleared and the memory of Luis Aragones’ bumps torment is hazy, Spain’s footballing fraternity will have to stop basking in their Euro 2008 glory and look forward to kicking lumps out of each other in the new La Liga season. Because they care so much, here’s chickendinner’s guide to just about everything that’s going to happen in the sun-drenched nation…

» Real Madrid have secured successive La Liga titles but not since 1990-1994 (Barcelona) have any Primera Liga side managed to retain the championship three years in a row. However, the last time Real Madrid won consecutive league titles, they went on to win five in succession - 1985-1990.

» Celta Vigo finished sixth in 2005/06 and were relegated the very next season. Real Zaragoza ended the 2006/07 season in sixth position and also found themselves relegated a year later. That spells bad news for Racing Santander who were this year’s sixth placed side.

» In four of the past five seasons, the side that finished fourth in La Liga went on to struggle in the next campaign, finishing tenth or lower and on one occasion being relegated. Atletico Madrid may be in for a long season.

» Only two of the last ten runners up in La Liga have gone on to secure the title the following season - Villarreal were last year’s unlucky losers.

» In the last ten seasons, only one side has ever finished third and secured the league title in their next campaign. On six occasions

The best sports on the telebox tonight

After graciously falling out of this year’s Champions League, Ronaldinho-less Barca must now concentrate their energies on taking second place in La Liga from Villarreal. Tonight, they are 9/4 underdogs in their visit to runaway title contenders Real Madrid - but in the past five seasons, El clásico has been won by the away side four times, and there’s been a shedload of goals too.

Check out the best odds on the match right here.

Indian Premier League Cricket
Mumbai Indians/ Rajasthan Royals (Setanta Sports 1, 3.30pm)

La Liga
Recreativo/ Villarreal (Sky Sports 1, 7pm)
Real Madrid/ Barcelona (Sky Sports 1, 9pm)

Scottish Premier League
Rangers/ Motherwell (Setanta Sports 1, 7.45pm)

French Cup Semi-final
Lyon/ Sedan (Setanta Sports 2, 8pm)

For those who missed Britain’s Got Talent at the weekend, the conclusion was that it doesn’t… got talent. No one new came along to wow the judges, and the only real positive was the body popping street urchin who made everyone erupt into spontaneous tears of euphoria last year. In a similar vein, it looks like Chelsea have stopped looking for new stars and just want Kaka or Messi - has Abramovich secretly put Cowell in charge of transfers?

Kaka to Chelsea
Milan moneyman Adriano Galliani’s bold declaration that it would take something stupid like £55 million to prize Kaka away was intended to stop people hassling him all the time. What he didn’t take into account is that Abramovich happily spends £55 million on breakfasting and yachts.

Richard Dunne to Newcastle
In his continuing quest to assemble a team which could have won the league in 1999, Keegan is apparently taking a serious look at Dunne - no doubt intending to play him in a defence consisting of him, Steve Howey, Jason McAteer, and Graeme Le Saux. Hey Kevin, you know who’s really good? Alan Shearer!

Gareth Barry to Arsenal
With the rumours heavily suggesting that Flamini is going to flounce off to Italy in the summer, the whisper is that Arsenal are going to challenge Liverpool and Chelsea for Barry’s affections. Which, of course, means that he’s off to Old Trafford to stare awkwardly at Carrick and Hargreaves in training.

Villarreal barely need to leave their half to score

UPDATE: The spoilsports at YouTube appear to have taken the video down, but you can see it here.

The best (if not cheekiest) effort of the weekend goes to Villarreal’s Marcos Senna, who scored the only goal of yesterday’s game with Betis from the centre circle.

Yet another Sports Illustrated beauty destroys a nuclear family

The Argentinean tabloids have got themselves all worked up over Boca Juniors midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme and his 21-year-old girlfriend Yésica Toscanini. On the surface, it’s a perfectly normal footballer-model partnership, but the South American rags seem to be picking up on a troubling fact: Riquelme has a wife and three kids, and he has been secretly putting away his new lady since they met during the World Cup in Germany. There are even rumours circulating that he wanted to take Yésica, rather than his spouse, to Villarreal during his spell there. Tsk.