Real Madrid should be looking forward to a leisurely stroll towards a 30th Spanish league title after adding David Beckham to a lineup already boasting the game's most destructive attacking force.
However, the defending champions have been their own worst enemies in the build-up to the new domestic season and a series of internal squabbles could yet open the door to one of several challengers.
Incredibly, coach Vicente del Bosque and captain Fernando Hierro were both dumped after last season's title win -- much to the displeasure of the other senior players -- and new Portuguese boss Carlos Queiroz will be glancing nervously over his shoulder unless the team's start is impeccable.
Barcelona have spent heavily to bring in six players, including Brazilian World Cup playmaker Ronaldinho for 30 million euros ($32.65 million), and there is a renewed sense of optimism under club president Joan Laporta.
Deportivo Coruna and Valencia have not been able to invest on such a scale but will still be dangerous, while Real Sociedad should at least be able to prove that last season's second-place finish was no fluke.
The chances of one of the league's more modest teams bothering the favourites have receded, with the gap between rich and poor growing ever wider.
While Real Madrid and Barcelona will pocket more than 50 million euros each season from new television rights deals, medium-sized clubs such as Espanyol will have to settle for less than a quarter of that amount.
Eight of the smallest top flight clubs and the 22 second division clubs will be even worse off after finally agreeing to call off a strike threat and accept an offer of 264 million euros between them over three seasons.
SPENDING SPREE
Real are in a different financial league to the rest of the country and club president Florentino Perez was able to sign England captain Beckham for 35 million euros from Manchester United.
Perez then snatched Queiroz from his job as assistant coach at Old Trafford to demonstrate beyond doubt that Real are now the club with the biggest pulling power around.
Beckham has not enjoyed a spectacular pre-season but he will take heart from the fact that Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo all needed time to settle after making their own high-profile moves.
A bigger worry will be over influential French midfielder Claude Makelele, who has been in open rebellion over his position as one of the lowest-paid members of the squad.
Queiroz is also in desperate need of a reliable centre-back following Hierro's departure.
Then there are the doubts raised by several players over the wisdom of the club's exhausting pre-season tour of the Far East.
The players have looked slow and sluggish in their matches since then and they are unlikely to be at their best for some time.
"The tour of Asia maybe wasn't ideal," Ivan Helguera recognised this week. "It's been hard to get the body back in gear after not sleeping much on tour but we don't want to make excuses."
It has not been ideal preparation but Real have coped with similar problems in the past and no one would underestimate a team with Raul and Ronaldo in attack, the sublime Zidane running the midfield and the added set-piece threat provided by Beckham.
LAPORTA REVOLUTION
If Real are to be beaten, Barcelona may just be the team to do it under the charismatic Laporta and Dutch coach Frank Rijkaard.
Laporta won a landslide election victory at the end of last season and he has since set about revolutionising the club after three traumatic years under Joan Gaspart.
Ronaldinho may not quite be in the same class as those much missed Brazilians Romario, Ronaldo and Rivaldo but his arrival has inspired such an upswing in confidence that a first league title since 1999 now looks at least a possibility.
"This will not be just a season of transition," Laporta said last week. "Our intention is to win back Barcelona's place at the top table of international football."
Like Barcelona, Valencia will not have the distraction of a Champions League campaign after finishing fifth and they should also be back challenging for the title.
There has been little money for new signings but the club have brought in Brazilian Ricardo Oliveira, joint-top scorer in the Libertadores Cup.
Deportivo Coruna have lost the league's top scorer, Roy Makaay, to Bayern Munich but that departure will not concern coach Javier Irureta unduly with Diego Tristan, Albert Luque and Walter Pandiani all pushing for places in the forward line.
Real Sociedad may find life tougher this season, despite managing to keep their squad together under French coach Raynald Denoueix.
The demands of a Champions League campaign will test their resources to the limit and the Basque club would settle for a decent run in Europe and consolidation at home.
It is hard to see a title challenge coming from any of the other clubs, although Villarreal and Atletico Madrid have both signed well.
Villarreal have a new-look forward line in the Brazilian Sonny Anderson and Spaniard Jose Mari, while new Atletico coach Gregorio Manzano will have Diego Simeone back to run the midfield.
Simeone was an integral part of the Atletico side that won the double in 1996 but it would surely be too much for the Argentine to inspire a similar success story at the age of 33.
Real Madrid have Ronaldo, Raul, Roberto Carlos, Zidane, Figo and Beckham all near their peak and the title should be theirs for the taking -- assuming they can overcome their own internal difficulties and the ever-present shadow of the Champions League.
