Soccer - Basketball - Match

Date: Sunday, August 18, at 3 p.m. ET (20:00 BST)

Where: Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain

Real Madrid begin their battle for Spanish supremacy with Barcelona by welcoming Real Betis to the Bernabeu.

Fans have become accustomed to seeing Barcelona and Madrid cannibalize the rest of Spain, but this is getting ridiculous. Aside from the top two clubs, the Spanish league is seeing a major talent drain, as European teams cherry pick the best talent of every other club.

Radamel Falcao, Iago Aspas, Thiago Alcantara, Gary Medel, Jesus Navas, AlvaroNegredo and Roberto Soldado have all left Spain for greener pastures.

Of course, Madrid have only strengthened this summer. Although they lost Gonzalo Higuain, they've added Isco and Asier Illarramendi. It's been a policy of relying a little more on young Spanish talent, as Alvaro Morata and Jese are academy projects who appear poised to see some action as well.

Although it was just a preseason tournament, it was a strong showing from the club, and continued the positive momentum following the hiring of Carlo Ancelotti and the additions of Isco and Illarramendi.

Madrid shouldn't have much trouble in their La Liga curtain-raiser

Cristiano Ronaldo is poised to have a huge season now that he's free of JoseMourinho's more totalitarian regime as Madrid manager. Ancelotti is a players' manager who will take Ronaldo aside and tell him how good he is each and every week. It's the kind of support the winger needs but didn't get with Mourinho.

His record against Real Betis is actually not all that good. He's yet to score against Betisin Madrid.

Betis' only hope is to sit back and let Madrid run right at them. Lesser teams had a lot of success with that strategy last season. Rather than trying to attack Real Madrid, opposition sides bunkered in and tried to eliminate Madrid's chances on the counter.

Although it may prove fruitful for a short time, it's not going to work out for the entirety of the match.

Madrid will snag a goal before halftime, and it will be an uphill battle for Real Betisfrom that point forward. It will be a great league debut for Ancelotti and a major marker for the club as they look to take down Barcelona.