Before the weekend, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) released the match ups for Week 1 of the 2016-17 La Liga season, to much fanfare. Of course, much of the talk was around league giants Barcelona and Real Madrid facing Real Betis and Real Sociedad, respectively. Therefore, with the schedules coming out, let's preview and speculate as to how this edition of the Spanish championship will pan out.

Starting with Barcelona, there have been headlines involving their most iconic player, and not for good reasons. Leo Messi, likely fresh off vacation after Argentina's run to the championship game in the Copa America tournament, was sentenced by Spanish courts to up to 21 months in prison for tax evasion. There's no doubt that Barcelona will throw all their resources at making sure Messi never sees the inside of a cell, but the story isn't likely to go away or be resolved before the start of the season - August 21st. 

Messi was already fine 2.1 million EUR and it's more likely that his father, Jorge Messi, will take the fall. The elder Messi was also implicated in the case as he is in charge of his son's finances.

On the pitch, the Catalans need a replacement for Dani Alves, who now plies his trade in Italy.They may have found reinforcements in France international Samuel Umtiti, who was signed from Lyon for 25 million EUR and unveiled earlier this week. Umtiti is primarily a center-back, but can slide to left-back. 

Another French player, Lucas Digne was bought from Lile for the same price by Barça. Digne plays right-back as both he and Umiti add more depth to Barcelona's back line. However with all the success Luis Enrique's side have seen the past two years, it's hard to point out areas for improvement.

Real Madrid, however have an issue of depth on their hands. Especially if they decide to sell Isco and James Rodriguez. James has been the target of rumors before the season even ended, and Isco has seen his playing time steadily diminish the past couple years, so it may be in Madrid's best interest to sell high. 

Towards the back, they've lost Alvaro Arbeloa and brought back Fabio Coentrao. However the Portuguese defender hasn't stayed fit to make more than 20 appearances the past two years. Danilo doesn't seem be up to par, and Marcelo is no guarantee to make it through the season healthy.

Up front, they brought back Alvaro Morata for a 30 million EUR bargain, and Lucas Vasquez became to go to guy for a spark off the bench. With Ronaldo suffering his ligament injury in the Euro final and likely to miss all of preseason training, both may prove crucial towards defending the Champions League title, and challenging for the domestic championship.

Image via: Flickr