MADRID, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Football returned to the Liga Santander after the international break with some surprises and one man shows once again there is nobody in the world able to touch his brilliance. Here are four things we learned this weekend.
1. Leo Messi is untouchable
It is always hard to compare Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi given that fans of Barca and Real Madrid will always support the claims that their club's player is the best in the world. However, Leo Messi's start to the season has once again been brilliant. While Ronaldo sits out his suspension, Messi has led from the front in what could have been a difficult start to the campaign for his club after the chaos of the summer and the departure of Neymar.
Messi's hat-trick against Espanyol killed off a rival who could have complicated life for Barca in the Camp Nou and he already has five league goals this campaign, following his brace away to Deportivo Alaves before the international break.
It will be interesting to see how new signing Ousmane Dembele adapts to life at Barca, but the fact is three wins in three games has taken a lot of pressure off new coach Ernesto Valverde and as Valverde said on Saturday night; if the fans are happy with what they see on the pitch, that helps everyone around the club.
2. Could Real Madrid miss Morata?
It's clear to see why Alvaro Morata wanted to leave Real Madrid over the summer as the Spain international looked for more game time ahead of next summer's World Cup finals. His sale earned Madrid a lot of money and with Marcos Asensio pushing strongly for a start it seemed logical, however, two draws in their last two game have left some wondering if a sale which seemed logical in June may turn out to be a mistake in the autumn.
In their draws at home to Valencia and Levante, Real Madrid had chances to win, indeed they hit the post in injury time in both games, but there were moments when the ball was in the rival penalty area begging out for a specialist number '9' to apply the finish and without Morata they haven't got a 'killer' in the area. Ronaldo will soon return after suspension, but Benzema will miss the next six weeks with a knee injury and Gareth Bale is short of confidence, so could Morata's goals have made a difference?
3. This is a different Valencia
Valencia may have only drawn at home to Atletico Madrid on Saturday, but after losing their last four meetings against Diego Simeone's side that has to be seen as an improvement, especially as it comes on the back of a 2-2 draw in the Santiago Bernabeu.
Marcelino Garcia has brought about a change of mentality at the club and players such as Dani Parejo are getting back to their best, while new arrivals Kondogbia and Gabriel Paulista have added steel to a side, which after two years in the wilderness should challenge for a place in Europe this time around.
4. Real Sociedad set up early crunch game in Anoeta
Real Sociedad's 4-2 win away to Deportivo la Coruna took them to the top of the table with a 100 percent start to the season and sets up a huge game in their Anoeta Stadium next Sunday when Real Madrid travel to the Basque country.
Madrid have dropped four points in their opening two matches and a further setback against a side that is playing fluid and confident football would see them drop a long way off the pace at a very early stage in the season.
Zinedine Zidane will be without the injured Karim Benzema and the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcelo for a game which is going to be a huge test of character for his side.
