The top teams from Spain and Italy meet this week in the opening set of Champions League fixtures. So it goes without saying that all eyes are on a Swede and a Cameroonian.

One ‘jornada’ of the BBVA Liga completed, and the situation for the expected top two is as equal as at the same stage in 2008. However, this time round both Barcelona and Madrid have broken their duck early in their opening fixtures, in equally impressive fashion.

The European Super Cup and its ilk are only notable as a back-up plan should ‘real trophies’ not come a team’s way during the season proper (just ask Gerard Houlliér) and often serves as an irritant to teams ready to hit the ground running at the start of the campaign. The trip to Monaco had three big benefits for the Catalans, who took home the trophy in a fairly uninspiring contest against Shakhtar Donetsk.