All twenty La Liga teams have now played their first pre-season games, although there is still a long way to go before the season begins on the weekend of 17/18 August. Barcelona's start was delayed though, their first fixture in Poland postponed to be the end of the month after the surprise announcement that Tito Vilanova was stepping down, which meant that their first game was actually against Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich. With their Spanish and Brazilian internationals still resting though after the Confederations Cup, they fell to a 2-0 defeat, albeit a bit better than their recent meeting in the semi-final of the Champions League! Real Madrid were also missing many of their key players for their first games at Bournemouth and Olympique Lyon, but that at least gave Ancelotti a chance to get to know the rest of the squad. The big two will be going in opposite directions next week though Barça travelling East to play in Thailand and Malaysia, and Madrid heading West to take part in the International Champions Cup together with Valencia and six more of the World's top clubs. Meanwhile Atlético Madrid and Sevilla are in South America, participating in the new Euroamerica Cup, and most of the other sides are also playing friendly games against international opposition. Check out all the details at our "Pre-season fixtures" page. (25.07.13)