Jose Mourinho has talked about establishing a new identity at the Santiago Bernabeu and the goalless draw with Real Mallorca a fortnight ago is sufficient evidence to appreciate that he won't shy away from going back to basics in his quest to create a team in his own image.

Barcelona v Hercules
(Saturday 1800 CET)

The Barcelona juggernaut picked up where it left off at the end of last season as the champions made easy meat of Racing Santander on the opening weekend, so it requires a wild imagination to envisage newly-promoted Hercules throwing a spanner in the works of this well-oiled machine.

It shouldn't matter that a handful of Pep Guardiola's key performers have been dragged across the other side of the world for a pointless international friendly in Argentina, just as it didn't matter that Guardiola had those same players for only a fortnight in pre-season.

The Alicante-based outfit have had nothing to prepare them for this experience, so a comfortable win for the champions is to be expected.

Sadly, the handicap line sees Barca chalked up at no bigger than 1.29 to win by two goals, 1.67 to win by three goals and 2.60 to win by four goals, so it's difficult to fashion any kind of involvement in this one.

Real Madrid v Osasuna
(Saturday 2000 CET)

Jose Mourinho has talked about establishing a new identity at the Santiago Bernabeu and the goalless draw with Real Mallorca a fortnight ago is sufficient evidence to appreciate that he won't shy away from going back to basics in his quest to create a team in his own image.

Clean sheets have always formed the bedrock of Mourinho's football philosophy and while the Merengues have never found shut-outs difficult by simple virtue of their superior individual quality to most opponents, the Portuguese coach isn't one to rely on chance.

All of which means Madrid might appear to go backwards before they go forwards and they might not be particularly exciting to watch in the coming weeks, but that could be good news for punters willing to go low on goals at big prices.

Osasuna have been cautious by default over the past couple of seasons and given that Jose Antonio Camacho's men fired a blank at home to Almeria in their first outing, you'd have to say their chances of bagging in the capital are remote.

Therefore, we find ourselves not really knowing which way to turn because we like the value to be found in Bwin's 2.55 quote on under 2.5 goals, but we settle instead for the solid promise of a Real Madrid clean sheet at 1.72 with Bet365.

Athletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid
(Saturday 2200 CET)

Atletico Madrid started the season in blistering fashion with a 4-0 demolition of Sporting Gijon at the Vicente Calderon but this fixture ought to tell us a lot more about their Champions League credentials.

Handsome wins on home soil are nothing new for Atletico, consistency has always been the problem in recent seasons and though we suspect the tide has turned under the astute guidance of Quique Sanchez Flores, victory at San Mames would be a huge statement.

The Basque outfit are perennially formidable opponents in their own backyard but the task could be even tougher this season if they continue their steady progress under Joaquin Caparros.

Indeed, there's a sneaky feeling among many pundits that Athletic could mount a serious challenge for a Champions League berth this time around and they could stray into value territory on the exchanges should they drift towards the 3.50 mark in this clash shortly before kick-off.

However, as things stand, we'll keep the powder dry.

Villarreal v Espanyol
(Sunday 1900 CET)

Espanyol have developed the habit of starting slowly over the past couple of seasons but now all the ingredients are in place for them to hit the ground running and we think they're worth chancing at 4/1 for the trip to El Madrigal.

Hopes were high for a good season 12 months ago when they moved into their new stadium on the back of positive beginnings under Mauricio Pochettino but then the club was rocked by the death of Dani Jarque, so it was only natural that they didn't really get going until after winter break.

The Pericos don't score too many goals and tend to encounter trouble when expected to dispatch the lesser weights but you can usually rely on them to be competitive when challenged by a bigger reputation.

Whether Villarreal still fall into that category is unclear but their defeat to newly-promoted Real Sociedad a fortnight ago would suggest they have some way to go in gelling a host of new faces together.

Sevilla v Deportivo
(Sunday 2100 CET)

Sevilla might have papered over the cracks of the shock Champions League exit with a resounding 4-1 win over Levante on the opening day but we're not about to trust them at 8/15 against a Deportivo side that thrives on packing bodies behind the ball and making life difficult.

The Galician side might have lost a handful of their biggest names over the summer but their goalless draw with Zaragoza should be taken as a message from Miguel Angel Lotina that he can craft a tight formation and a fair amount of discipline whatever tools he has to work with.

So you fear for the mood at the Sanchez Pizjuan if the Andalusians don't get on top early because it won't take long for the vocal home support to turn against the team now that the main attraction going into the season has already been snatched away from them.

From a betting perspective, we'd probably be inclined to side with under 2.5 goals at 1.91 but this isn't really a contest to get too excited about and our best advice is to keep a watching brief.

Best of the rest:

The excitement surrounding the takeover by Abdullah Al-Thani at Malaga put a fair amount of pressure on the players to crown his arrival with a big scalp when Valencia travelled to La Rosaleda on the opening day.

However, the quality of Los Che hasn't been diminished as much as many pundits are suggesting and now it might suit the Boquerones to be largely written off for the trip to Zaragoza on Sunday.

Based on the evidence of last season, the layers have this contest about right but enough has changed on the Costa del Sol in the meantime to justify a speculative punt on the visitors.

Zaragoza kicked off with a goalless draw at Deportivo, which doesn't tell us a great deal about them other than they weren't imposing enough to stop Depor being Depor.

So we find ourselves relying on what we recall of last season and though the Aragon club got their act together after the winter break following the appointment of Jose Aurelio Gay, they still have questions to answer before they can be trusted at odds-on.

Therefore, we'll back former Porto boss Jesualdo Ferreira to mastermind his first victory on the other side of the Iberian peninsula.

The Andalusians can be backed at 4.20 in 90 minutes but we'd prefer to keep the stalemate onside, so Malaga (draw no bet) at 2.85 is the call.

PICKS:
Real Madrid to keep a clean sheet against Osasuna at 1,72 (Bet365).
Malaga to beat Real Zaragoza (draw no bet) at 2.85 (Betsson).
Espanyol to beat Villarreal at 4.65 (Betsson).