Jose Mourinho doesn't actually write his own scripts - it just seems like he does. Fresh from completing a first-ever Italian treble for Inter Milan with victory over Bayern Munich in the Santiago Bernabeu in May, the irrepressible Portuguese has now stayed behind in the Spanish capital to tackle his next mission: bringing an end to Barcelona's dominance of the Primera Liga.

Of course, the Champions League trophy will also be back in Mourinho's sights come 2011 but his priority in his first season at Real Madrid will be to knock Barca off their perch, and that means reclaiming domestic honours.

Toppling arguably the greatest club side of all time might not seem like the easiest of tasks, but appearances can be deceptive and this is by no means Mourinho's toughest challenge to date.

Indeed, the Special One need only match the results of predecessors Juande Ramos and Manuel Pellegrini against 18 other teams to put himself into contention, but it's the outcome of the two head-to-heads against Barca that will probably decide the destiny of the title.

And that's what makes this story so appealing, because if ever a match was made for Jose Mourinho, if ever a stage was set for his unmistakable love of theatre, then it's the Clasico.

And what's more, Mourinho has already proved that he can outwit Pep Guardiola and shackle the Catalan giants because he managed it in a gripping Champions League semi-final with the Nerazzurri less than six months ago.

As a betting heat, the outright market is hardly the most enticing, so we'll avoid going overboard on a two-horse race that won't be settled for nine months.

Nonetheless, we believe Mourinho's record deserves a tiny bit more credit than the 6/5 quote available with a number of firms. We make this each of two.

Meanwhile, the race for the remaining Champions League places will, as ever, provide an intriguing sub-plot and this is where the pulse really starts to race from a betting perspective.

Last season, Valencia coasted into third position and now they look jaw-dropping value to finish in the top four once again at 9/4.

Naturally, the layers are attaching huge significance to the summer exodus that allowed the debt-ridden club to recoup more than 80million euros but they appear to have gone way overboard in their assessment of how results will be affected by the departures of David Villa and David Silva.

Of course, it's true that Los Che will be weaker in the final third this season but Roberto Soldado - now turning out for his childhood team - and Aritz Aduriz aren't bad replacements by any stretch of the imagination.

Both players have a proven track record for creating problems and scoring goals at this level and they could thrive with better players around them. You could even argue that they're better suited to Unai Emery's preferred method of approaching games with a high level of uncertainty avoidance.

Emery is an extremely talented coach who hasn't received anything like the credit he deserves for maintaining a state of calm - not to mention dressing room harmony - throughout a very difficult period in the club's history. Now he's finally getting the chance to build a team in his own image.

For those who remain unconvinced, the key thing to understand is that this will be a very different Valencia to the swashbuckling outfit Emery took control of two seasons ago but the switch from prodigious to pragmatic has hardly been an overnight transition.

Emery always knew he was going to lose his big hitters, and he also had a fair idea when, so it was no coincidence that Villa and Silva gradually became peripheral figures when Los Che developed the habit of winning games 1-0 towards the end of last season.

There might have been an argument that Champions League involvement could hinder Valencia's chances had the squad not been bolstered significantly in all areas with Ricardo Costa, Tino Costa, Mehmet Topal and Sofiane Feghouli also coming in to provide Emery with much greater strength in depth.

The reason why Valencia can be backed at such inflated odds is because the layers have jumped to the conclusion that Atletico Madrid and Sevilla have third and fourth sewn up between them, with neither side quoted any better than 8/11. But we can pick holes in both.

In all fairness, the bookies are entitled to acknowledge the progress being made at the Vicente Calderon because you would expect Atletico to pose the biggest threat of the two.

The first half of last season was nothing short of a disaster for the Colchoneros before Quique Sanchez Flores got to grips with a difficult dressing room, eventually guiding the club to two cup finals with glory coming in the Europa League on a memorable night in Hamburg.

However, Atleti must still go a long way to prove they can consistently churn out results from mundane league fixtures and that will ultimately decide whether they make up 24 points on Valencia this time around. The layers who award them favouritism in the 'without Barca and Real' market might be jumping the gun a bit.

As for Sevilla, they have been round the block enough times to deserve plenty of respect in this market and they underlined their relative class by accounting for Atletico in last season's Copa del Rey final at the Camp Nou.

Nonetheless, question marks persist about the ability of Antonio Alvarez as a top-level manager.

Instant silverware looks good on the CV but it should be remembered that the Andalusians were already in the final when Alvarez was appointed as successor to Manolo Jimenez in March.

Subsequently, Sevilla's league form dipped enough to suggest he could encounter some difficulty in getting the best out of their star performers and their failure to qualify for the Champions League means they will start the season in a sense of depression.

Beyond which, it would be wrong to say the fight for Champions League places is a simple matter of any two from three because the overall standard of the league isn't great enough to say for sure that an outsider won't come along and surprise everyone.

However, the value in this market is undoubtedly with Valencia and we have no hesitation in wheeling out the silver bet and lumping on with relish.

PICK:

Real Madrid to win the Primera Liga at 2.20 (at Bet365).
Valencia to finish in the top four at 2.95 (at Bwin).