Welcome to the first in a weekly column reviewing five Talking Points from the past Gameweek of La Liga football. Hopefully these articles provide discussion for those who consider the top flight of Spanish football their favourite league but also encourage more football fans to watch more La Liga football.

Barcelona begin their defence with a win.

Barcelona put six past Real Betis this weekend and quite frankly, it should’ve been more.

If it wasn’t for an impressive Antonio Adan between the sticks, Gus Poyet could’ve been left red faced in his freshly ironed white shirt. The Champions picked up exactly where they left off from last season and so did Luis Suarez, the Uruguayan has now scored 15 goals in just six games for Barcelona and looks sharper than ever.

Elsewhere the disappointment of last season Arda Turan showed signs of his €34 million price tag, scoring the opening goal and registering an assist in the 6-2 victory. The Turk has now scored more goals in the last week, 3 in 3 games, than the whole of last season, 2 in 25 games.

La Masia graduate Sergi Roberto started at right-back and picked up two assists and barely put a foot wrong. Lucho deserves a lot of credit for having the faith to play the young midfielder in such an unfamiliar position during last season and persisting with it in this campaign. Perhaps this is a sign Barcelona don’t need to invest in a right-back and instead should use the money to pursue a new striker.

A new look Sporting Gijon impress.

The hosts went into their season opener having lost just two of their last nine La Liga games, form that saw them survive relegation by the skin of their teeth.

After a busy summer window that saw seven players leave permanently, four loans depart and 11 new signings arrive many had written off Sporting against Athletic Club.

It was quite the opposite, Abelardo’s side were happy to concede possession and hit the Basque side on the counter attack and that’s exactly how they got their second goal. Following an Athletic corner Moi Gomez pushed his side forward before playing in debutant Victor Rodriguez who gave the home side a cushion after Duje Cop scored a wonderful opening goal.

Despite such a fresh faced starting XI that saw five players make their debut for Los Rojiblancos they looked like a side that had played together for years. If they continue to perform like that and the El Molinon stays rocking, Sporting could be a surprise package this season.

Jorge Sampaoli provides entertainment.

We all knew it was going to happen, but we didn’t quite expect 10 goals to be scored in Sampaoli’s first game in charge of Sevilla.

The Chilean likes his side to dominate their opposition and have the majority of possession, press high and be clever with their movement off the ball. The Andulusians 3-5-2 formation lined up against Quique Sanchez Flores’ 4-4-2 system that is infamous for being hard to break down.

In truth, the game was comical, neither team were capable of defending and both Sampaoli and Flores need to address their defensive issues if they are to achieve their goals for the season. On a positive note for Sevilla, new signing Pablo Sarabia was impressive on his debut scoring once and assisting twice, also making his debut was Luciano Vietto who scored his first goal in 10 months and then added a second just after half time.

If Jorge Sampaoli can fix his leaky back line then we could see Sevilla back in the Champions League next season.

Marco Asensio, the future?

Marco Asensio scored on his Real Madrod competitive debut in Los Blancos’ Super Cup win over Sevilla last week and now marked his Real Madrid league debut with a delightful chip against Real Sociedad.

Putting the 20-year-old into the starting XI was a huge signal of intent from Zidane. He’s just 20 years old and in his first league start for Real Madrid had the audacity to chip the keeper, sublime confidence.

His movement off the ball is that of an experienced professional and shows how mature Asensio is at such a young age. Currently, he’s keeping James and Isco on the bench and repaying Zidane’s faith in him. Obviously, Cristiano Ronaldo will replace him in the starting XI once he’s back but we could then see Asensio deployed as an attacking central midfielder.

New season, same issues for Atleti?

Atletico Madrid have built a reputation on soaking up the pressure and frustrating their opposition but were given a taste of their own medicine when newly promoted Alaves took a point away from the Vicente Calderon with just 38% possession and two shots on target.

The biggest criticism of Diego Simeone’s side is their lack of goals, last season they scored 63 goals whilst Barcelona scored 112 and Real Madrid 110. The season previous the numbers stood at 67, 110 and 118. Sure defences win titles but Atletico will continue to drop silly points if they struggle to finish games off. Their draw with Alaves also showed how much they missed Antoine Griezmann, the French forward is world class but more importantly, he’s a match winner and without him Atleti look a much weaker side.