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Pre-season fixtures

The long programme of pre-season fixtures is now finally over, and the league kick-off is only a few days away. Although results of these matches are fairly meaningless, they do give some indication of how new coaches and players have settled in, with for example Ancelotti's Real Madrid winning the International Champions Cup against some of the world's top teams, including a satisfying victory against Mourinho's Chelsea in the final. Tata Martino has had less time to acclimatize himself at Barcelona, but he did lead them to two wins in a brief tour of South East Asia, Neymar getting his first goals for his new club. Elsewhere Atlético Madrid's "new boy" David Villa began his reign as Falcao's successor getting his name on the scoresheet on his debut, and the new look Sevilla have started strongly, not only winning through comfortable in their Europa League qualifier, but also beating Manchester United at Old Trafford. None of that counts for much though, and the real test of how well squads have restructured begins on Saturday. We can't wait! (12.08.13)