For those of you who were paying even the slightest bit of attention last week, your geographic knowledge of Spain has surely been enhanced. If only un poco. The strangely unplumbed beginning to the Spanish La Liga continued this weekend with the team that was technically relegated last year - but rescued because of a financial fiasco - still at the table's summit. Inevitably, many of you - your humble author included - ran to the nearest atlas after last week's results to, essentially find out, where Eibar actually was. Northern Spain. Basque country. Yes, it's on the map. In more ways than one.

Editor's Note: Be sure and check out all of our articles and read more about the EPL and the Spanish La Liga. 

Proving that their first week's exploits were more than a mere fluke, the team from the north took care of business again this weekend beating Athletic Bilbao 2-0 at home in front of the raucous roars of 5,000 faithful. The town itself, if we counted correctly, has about 27,000 inhabitants and their team now has six points. Their recent performance, once again, oozed of an attacking flaunting style of football that saw Adrian Gonzalez Morales - who shall henceforth be quite simply referred to as "Adrian", scoring again. We note this because the midfielder now has as many goals in two games as he has ever tallied in any complete season of his career. Testament really as to how the footballing fates are currently smiling upon this tiny little club. Not a reason to uncork any bubbly editions of sangria just yet, but just the start to the season that piques the interest of any and all football fans - especially the " I always root for the underdog" brigade.

BARCELONA

It's not just the men from Eibar that are raising eyebrows. The title favorite titans that reside in Barcelona and Madrid both notched up wins this weekend but it seems a faint uneasiness continues to linger over both clubs. At least for now.

Barcelona produced yet another somewhat jaded but determined and dogged performance to get a 1-0 victory over Malaga with Thomas Vermaelen (huh?) scoring the winner with 17 minutes to expiration. Neymar was back but this blessed trinity of forwards - playing together for the first time since the Champions League final - all drew blanks but it may be folly to dismiss, with the season still in its infancy, that they have little chance of repeating the 122 goals accumulated between them last season. Barcelona had about 75% possession in the second half of this game and 13 shots on target and if it weren't for the heroics of Carlos Kameni (yes, the Malaga goalkeeper) the Blaugrana would surely have tallied a few more. Although Messi has been kept scoreless in the first two games of La Liga since 2007, it's hardly a reason to panic. After all, he is Lionel Messi.

MADRID

Their first win of the season was an emphatic one as los Blancos fired five past a beleaguered Real Betis team whilst James Rodriguez ("James") garnered man-of-the-match citations with two stupendous goals and an assist. The Colombian's deft chip into the opponent's box within two minutes of the start of the game allowed Gareth Bale to head home the opener and temper the nerves. A mouth watering free kick from James made it two nil, and from then on really the outcome was inevitable.

The Colombian completed his own footballing broadcast by executing, what is already a goal-of-the-season contender, an overhead kick that most of us would only ever possibly conceive of on a video game. Benzima got in on the action also but admittedly Madrid's defense didn't look overly convincing with, not surprisingly, Marcello more guilty than most of losing cheap possession, especially in vulnerable areas. A win and a much improved performance without (gasp) Ronaldo not scoring AGAIN but defensively, the frailties were apparent.

Although Madrid will be pleased with the win, it must surely be tinged with the disappointment of David De Gea's move from Manchester United falling through. Seemingly, the United bureaucratic machinations were tardy in their responses and took over eight hours to reply to Madrid's contracts which thus meant the transfer missed the window by two minutes. No extra time allowed here and United's excuses of having IT issues are as lame as their performance (and notably goalkeeper Sergio Romero) was over the weekend in their loss to Swansea.

THE REST

Arguably, the result of the weekend was Atletico Madrid's 3-0 away win at Sevilla and a performance as powerful and provocative in the style of football played as in the statement made by Diego Simeone's men. Los Rojiblancos are ravenous for success and will not make Barce or Real's flight to glory easy and, by no means assured, this season. This result was a statement of intent. Antoine Griezmann continues to astound and it's easy to see why this Frenchman was a potential transfer target for the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea. His pace, skill strength and ability to always, it seems, get himself into a dangerous position makes him a potent asset. He set up two goals against Seville (one for Koke who had been experiencing a goal drought and hadn't scored in the league since March) and almost had one himself that found the woodwork in the dying embers of the game.

Atletico's defense remains as old fashioned and uncompromising as Simeone was when he himself played. With guys like Gabi in midfield and Griezmann and Luciano Vietto up front their next game - which is against Barcelona - will surely be one to savor. It's early days but Atletico look impressive.

Although they won their first trophy in 30 years by beating Barcelona in the Super Cup, Athletic Bilbao have yet to register a point, losing this weekend to underdog prodigies Eibar. Big name players like Aduriz and De Marcos don't seem to realize that the season has already begun and the team's overall movement and demeanor was one of obvious torpid incoherence.

With just two points from the first two games Valencia will hardly be getting fidgety just yet, but they would have hoped for better and had to settle for a 1-1 draw against, thus far, fellow strugglers Deportivo La Coruna. Sevilla's dismantling at the hands of Atletico has been documented resulting in the southern team signing Marco Andreolli on loan from Inter to bolster what looks like a very penetrable defense. Ex-Spurs flop, Roberto Soldado, continues his reincarnation and reinvigoration at Villarreal as he scored one and assisted in two as his team notched up a 3-1 win versus Espanyol.

Already in England it appears that Manchester City are the team to beat. In Spain however, the narrative is reading a little differently. Although it's ridiculously early, it already looks like a compelling season with ingredients of uncertainly, expectancy and footballing theater being continuously woven into a dish that already smells like a Spanish delicacy.

With International football dominating fixtures over the next week, La Liga resumes on Friday September 11th. The game of the weekend should be Atletico Madrid versus Barcelona which takes place on Saturday at 2.30 pm EST.

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