Aktuelles » performance at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.There are

BARCELONA, Spain -- The English Premier League may be splashing the cash but as long as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale call La Liga home, then Spain is where the best players will be performing each week.After Suarezs league-leading 40 goals from last season, Barcelona begins its campaign for a third straight domestic title on Saturday, when Real Betis comes to Camp Nou.We head into the league as reigning champions and with the intention of defending our title, Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said.Champions League winner Real Madrid gets going with a match at Real Sociedad on Sunday, before Atletico Madrid, which has earned its place among preseason contenders, hosts the promoted Alaves.Luis Enrique has had a near perfect two seasons in charge, sweeping the league and Copa del Rey titles, and winning the Champions League in year one. He added the Spanish Super Cup to his trophy haul on Wednesday when Barcelona completed a 5-0 aggregate victory over Sevilla.Besides maintaining the same high standards, Luis Enriques biggest task will be to make sure Messi moves past this summer, when he hit the low point of his otherwise stellar career.The clubs all-time leading scorer was embarrassed both on and off the pitch in June. First came a judges verdict that found Messi and his father guilty of defrauding the Spanish tax office of 4.1 million euros ($4.6 million). Both men will appeal.That was followed by Messi losing a third consecutive final with Argentina. Distraught, Messi said immediately after the Copa America final defeat to Chile that he was finished playing for his nation, only to later retract and say he would give it another go.Cristiano Ronaldos offseason, by contrast, could not have been sweeter.The Real Madrid forward is the favorite to win the Ballon dOr after finally conquering an elusive title for Portugal, which managed without him after he was injured in the European Championship final to beat France.Bale was also strengthened by Euro 2016 after an excellent performance to lead Wales to the semifinals.Fewer coaches have entered a season at the Santiago Bernabeu in a securer position than Zinedine Zidane. After a bumpy start to his coaching debut midway through last campaign, Zidane got his team going when it mattered and now has a Champions League title as a manager to solidify his place in club lore that he first earned as a player.Normally eager to make a splashy summer signing, Madrid president Florentino Perez has limited his purchases to bringing back striker Alvaro Morata from Juventus.Thats just fine for Zidane, who said: I am happy with the players I have. We won the European Cup with them.Barcelona has beefed up its defense and midfield. Newcomers Andre Gomes and Denis Suarez will join Andres Iniesta, Ivan Rakitic, Rafina and Arda Turan as playmakers, while Barcelonas defense has undergone a quiet upheaval. Dani Alves left along with Marc Bartra and Thomas Vermaelen -- in came Frenchmen Samuel Umtiti and Lucas Digne.This is the best squad I have had since I am at Barca, Luis Enrique said. We have a greater number of midfielders who are versatile and some who can play in attack. That helps the team a lot.Atletico Madrid has solidified its role as the third team in Spain, despite a huge budget difference compared to the two powerhouses.Coach Diego Simeone will once again try to get his hardworking team to overachieve and be in the title race for a fourth straight year ever since its against-the-odds 2014 title. His biggest hurdle may be keeping his squad convinced the extra effort is worth it after another agonizing loss to Real Madrid in the final of the Champions League last season.Antoine Griezmann is set to lead Atletico Madrid after a breakout summer with France at the European Championship. Kevin Gameiro has arrived from Sevilla to form a speedy attack with Griezmann, while Nicolas Gaitan joins a midfield led by Jorge Koke Resurreccion and Saul Niguez.The best of the rest of the 20-team field depends on how well Sevilla reboots under new manager Jorge Sampaoli, and if Villarreal can maintain its attacking style after the surprising coaching change of Fran Escriba replacing Marcelino Garcia.An outsider to keep an eye on is the new-look Espanyol. Long in the shadow of crosstown rival Barcelona and no stranger to the relegation fight, Espanyol under new owner Chen Yansheng has launched an ambitious plan to challenge for a European spot with coach Quique Sanchez Flores. Cheap Nike Shoes Australia . -- Devin Hester is done returning kicks in Chicago. Wholesale Shoes Australia Online . -- Teemu Selanne scored the first goal of his 22nd NHL season, and the Anaheim Ducks extended the best start in franchise history with their fifth straight victory, 3-2 over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. http://www.saleshoesaustralia.com/ . It was the kind of score that might make everyone else wonder which course he was playing. Except that Graeme McDowell saw the whole thing. Crouched behind the 10th green at Sheshan International, McDowell looked over at the powerful American and said, "Ive probably seen 18 of the best drives Ive seen all year in the last two days. Cheap Shoes Australia From China . The Olympic champion curler and TSN curling analyst immediately went online to look at the Halls long list of honoured members. Thats when the enormity of the honour sunk in. Cheap Shoes Australia . Two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the April 15 race in an area packed with fans cheering the passing runners. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured, including at least 16 who lost limbs. LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Russian athletes and officials who are proven to have been part of a doping manipulation system should be banned for life from the Olympics, IOC President Thomas Bach said Thursday.Bach gave his personal view one day before Canadian investigator Richard McLaren publishes a final report into alleged state-backed cheating at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.Proof of systematic doping would be aggravated circumstances to justify life bans, the IOC leader said at a news conference after a three-day executive board meeting.I would not like to see this person again at any Olympic Games in any function, said Bach, who declined to speculate if fresh revelations Friday could lead to calls for Russias exclusion from the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games. I do not know the content and the scope of the report of Professor McLaren.Bach did note that as an IOC disciplinary commission chairman he approved life bans for Austrian team members implicated in a doping program at the 2006 Turin Winter Games.However, proving that individual athletes knew of systematic doping involving state agencies could be difficult.McLaren, who was appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency in May, is expected to give more detail about cheating operations at the Sochi laboratory.In his interim report in July, McLaren confirmed claims by former lab director Grigory Rodchenkov of a hole-in-the-wall swapping system aided by the FSB security agency to exchange athletes dirty urine samples for clean ones.Earlier Thursday, the IOC member appointed to oversee disciplinary cases that arise from McLarens evidence acknowledged they could be tough to prove.Can you prove (athletes) were aware? Denis Oswald said on the sidelines of a sports law conference in Geneva.It is not that we would be scared to attack high level people in the Russian regime, the Swiss lawyer said. The question is more on the legal point of view. Can you punish athletes if they have done nothing and whether they were not aware of what was happening?Bach has also appointed a second IOC commission, headed by former Switzerland president Samuel Schmid, to evaluate if McLarens report and evidence proves a state-run doping system.ddddddddddddAnd then based on that we will see if we can start cases against athletes, Oswald said.Oswald will approach his next Olympic clean-up project after spending several months disqualifying dozens of athletes -- mostly in Russia and former Soviet Union countries -- from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics. Their use of anabolic steroids was detected in re-tests of samples.He acknowledged it was easy to see the link in claims that Russian authorities approved a doping program for the home Olympics at Sochi after the teams poor performance at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.There are some indications according to first report there was this mouse hole (in the Sochi lab) and trafficking of samples, Oswald said. And there are certainly enough elements to prove that something was done by the authority, by the minister of sport.Still, the evidence to prove doping might be missing.With DNA we can prove that the sample under the name of that person is not belonging to the person, Oswald said, of the sample swaps in Sochi. But, again, does it mean the original urine is positive, is contaminated?For now, Russia is atop the Sochi medal table with 13 golds ahead of Norways 11, and 33 total medals compared to 28 for the United States.Asked if Russia will remain there in the fallout of McLarens report and the IOCs follow-up commissions, Oswald said probably not.Meanwhile, United States lawmakers want Bach to attend a congressional committee hearing next Thursday to provide an update on sports fight against doping.Unfortunately I cannot attend there, said Bach, adding that the IOC will provide by other means all the information they may need. ' ' '