MADRID, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Spain's Liga Santander goes into its first international break of the season with just FC Barcelona and Real Madrid maintaining their 100 percent records after the start to the season. Here are some things we have learned so far.
1 Ronaldo not being missed
Real Madrid have kicked off the season with three wins from three games and with Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema showing there is life after Cristiano Ronaldo. The ease with which the pair are playing together and the effectiveness of the pair in front of goal implies that in past seasons they were handicapped by the obsession of trying to set up Ronaldo and Ronaldo's obsession in trying to score rather than look for his companions.
Last season Benzema scored five league goals all season, this time around he has four goals in three games, while Bale has three and Real Madrid look more like a team.
So far Ronaldo has not been missed.
2 Barca make case for the defense
Although Barca's 8-2 win over newly promoted Huesca on Sunday is likely to be the biggest win we see all season, despite a recital of attacking football in the second half, there were some worrying signs for Barca boss Ernesto Valverde.
Valverde won't have been impressed at how Huesca twice caught his side asleep at the back in the first half: opening the scoring after just two minutes and then clawing it back to 3-2 just a minute after Barca had netted their third. Barca's defensive lapses were not decisive on Sunday, but against a better, more experienced rival such errors could be costly.
3 Atletico misfiring
Atletico Madrid's win over Real Madrid in the European Supercup promised to be the start of something big for Diego Simeone's side, but the start of the Liga Santander season has been a disappointment for Atletico. Saturday's 2-0 defeat to Celta Vigo means they have just 4 points from three games; their worst start to a season since Simeone took over.
The Atletico defense; once so watertight, now looks leaky with Sime Vrsaljko clearly missed down the right, while the midfield continues to lack creativity starving the forwards of chances.
The good news for Atletico is that Simeone now has the international break to correct things: the bad news... Barca and Real Madrid already have a five-point head start.
4 Organization must improve
Three weeks into the new season in Spain and so far we have seen one game (Valladolid - Barcelona) played on a surface unfit for football, as it had been laid just 48 hours earlier.
The game between Rayo Vallecano and Athletic Club Bilbao, which was scheduled to be played on Saturday evening, was cancelled just 5 days before it was due to be played, because of unfinished work at Rayo's Vallecas Stadium (with no talk whatsoever of compensation Athletic fans who had made travel arrangements).
Meanwhile two more games: Sevilla - Villarreal and Celta - Atletico Madrid had their kick off times altered in the same week they were due to be played (again causing problems for supporters attending the ground). If LaLiga wants to be considered the best league in the World, it has to improve its organization, because this is not good enough.
