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La Liga action kicks off on August 13 as Spain’s top flight league gets ready for their 2021-22 season. The action gets started with Valencia taking on Getafe at 3:00 p.m. ET, with the rest of the games following throughout the rest of the weekend.
While you won’t be able to catch many La Liga matches on network TV, all 380 league games will be streamed live on ESPN+. Select games will be broadcast across their ESPN networks as well, but if you really want to watch any game of your choosing, ESPN+ is the way to go. If you’re not already signed up for ESPN+, they offer a reasonable rate at $5.99/month or you can get in on a bundle with Disney+ and Hulu as well.
Following the exit of Lionel Messi who recently just left Barcelona for the first time in his professional career to sign with French side PSG, Real Madrid is favored to win the league this season, but not by much. More than likely three teams will be vying for the championship between Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid.
Atletico are current reigning champions after edging out Real Madrid by just two points last season to win the title, while Barcelona finished in third, a full five points behind second place. It’ll be a new look for La Liga and Barca without the legendary Messi on the pitch, but they still have an incredibly solid roster and will likely have to lean on the likes of Antoine Griezmann to pick up the slack in Messi’s absence.