La Liga, Round 2 preview: Villarreal hosts Barcelona, Atlético Madrid look to bounce back

Barcelona faces an early season test with a trip to El Madrigal to face Villarreal

The defending champions Atlético Madrid stumbled out of the blocks with a scoreless draw against Rayo Vallecano. Atléti looked tired after their Spanish Super Cup triumph the week before, lacking their usual energy especially in the final 15 minutes of the match. Head coach Diego Simeone will once again be forced to watch the match from the stands as he continues to seve his eight match ban.

Real Sociedad could find themselves in an early season hole as they look to rebound from an opening round loss by hosting Real Madrid. Los Blancos were hardly impressive on Monday against newly promoted Cordoba, but they still won thanks to their wealth of talent. After a week of rest and training, Carlo Ancelotti will expect a strong performance from his players.

The 'Game of the Week' for this round is Barcelona vs. Villarreal on Sunday at El Madrigal. After a fairly pedestrian tune-up match at home against Elche in round 1, Barca hit the road for the first of two straight early season tests. The Yellow Submarine got their season off to a good start with a 2-0 win over Levante, and would love nothing more than to knock off the Blaugrana to open their home schedule. Despite playing Barca tough twice last season, Villarreal was unable to get a victory in either league match.

Here's the full schedule for round two in La Liga:

Friday, August 29

Getafe vs. Almeria | 2 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. CEST

Valencia vs. Malaga | 4 p.m. ET, 10 p.m. CEST

Saturday, August 30

Athletic Bilbao vs. Levante | 1 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CEST

Cordoba vs. Celta Vigo | 1 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CEST

Atlético Madrid vs. Eibar | 3 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. CEST

Espanyol vs. Sevilla | 5 p.m. ET, 11 p.m. CEST

Sunday, August 31

Villarreal vs. Barcelona | 1 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CEST

Deportivo La Coruña vs. Rayo Vallecano | 3 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. CEST

Real Sociedad vs. Real Madrid | 3 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. CEST

Elche vs. Granada | 5 p.m. ET, 11 p.m. CEST

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