LaLiga 2019-20: 5 Players who'll be crucial for their teams on Matchday 1

LaLiga 2019-20 kicks off tomorrow at the San Mames as holders Barcelona visit Athletic Bilbao away from home. Barcelona won the league title comfortably last season and would look to get off to a winning start this time around as well.

The reigning LaLiga winners are unbeaten in their last 10 games on matchday 1. The last time a reigning Champion failed to win the first game was way back in 2008/09 when Madrid lost to Deportivo at Riazor.

The big news from Barcelona is that Lionel Messi will potentially be unfit for the opener. The Barcelona captain is recovering a calf strain and possibly won't be risked for the opening game.

Messi missing shouldn't make a huge difference in terms of our excitement for the start of the battle for Spanish supremacy. A lot of new players have joined LaLiga, a lot of exciting youngsters, proven game-winners, all clubbed together give us a huge pool of players to keep an eye out for.

We present you five players to keep an eye out for on Matchweek 1 of LaLiga.

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#5 Martin Odegaard

Martin Odegaard will be looking to make a mark in LaLiga

To start us all out, we have an exciting young talent, who is going to play his first LaLiga game come Saturday. Martin Odegaard, whose parent club is Real Madrid, is loaned to Real Sociedad for the full season, as the Norwegian will look to build upon the successes he enjoyed at Vitesse last year.

Odegaard is a natural attacking midfield player and would fit just fine in a 4-2-3-1 system that Sociedad can employ. He is surrounded by other good players in the attacking half too, including Adnan Januzaj, Mikel Oyarzabal, and Alexander Isak.

The prime reason to keep an eye out for Odegaard is, no doubt, his footballing capability. The secondary reason is to judge his transition from the Netherlands to Spain and look at his impact in the Spanish game. Add to that the prospect of seeing his linkups with Oyarzabal, and the faceoff against Dani Parejo, Carlos Soler, Goncalo Guedes - this one will be a great watch.

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#4 Luuk de Jong

Luuk de Jong will be the scoring outlet for Sevilla following Ben Yedder's departure

People who followed Eredivisie would surely know this man too. Luuk de Jong, the 28-year-old Dutch striker, was the top scorer of the league last season with 28 goals to his name. With Wissam Ben Yedder and Andre Silva both leaving the Andalusian club this season, to Monaco and AC Milan respectively, the scoring boots are now firmly with de Jong.

Julen Lopetegui's new-look Sevilla will have de Jong as the target striker, be it in his favoured 4-3-3 system, or a modified 4-2-3-1 system. Lopetegui prefers to have a midfield player around whom he dictates the movements of the team. It was Isco in Spain and his brief stay in Madrid, and it might be Oliver Torres at Sevilla.

Be it any system or style, the game is won by putting the ball on the back of the net, a job that de Jong loves. He cannot drop deeper and help in the build-up and is not a good creator either. He can play as a lone striker or stay ahead of his wingers, make movements that matter, and is a huge physical presence on the pitch. Being over 6 ft tall, he has the vertical ability to collect crosses, jostles with defenders, and out-muscle oppositions.

Watch out for him when Sevilla takes on Espanyol on matchday 1.

#3 Joao Felix

Joao Felix is all set to replace Antoine Griezmann at Atletico

This is LaLiga's most expensive player in the transfer window so far. The 19-year-old Portuguese star moved from Benfica to Atletico Madrid this summer and he has been handed, Antoine Griezmann's number 7 shirt. He has been in good touch so far in the pre-season for Atletico Madrid.

Felix scored 2 goals and gave 3 assists in the International Champions Cup and scored a goal and assisted in the game against the MLS All-Star. Last season in the Primeira Liga, he scored 15 goals and registered 7 assists playing for Benfica, which dropped him into the limelight.

Touted with a move to a big club this summer, Atletico Madrid splashed money on him to bring him to Madrid. With Griezmann gone, Atleti needs another forward who plays the same role in Simeone's 4-4-2 flat formation. Felix can either start as one of the two strikers and drop in while Costa stays upfront. Or he can start as a wide midfielder and cut in like Malouda used to do.

Either way, his debut for Atleti in the league should be paid attention to. It will be against Getafe on Sunday night at the Wanda Metropolitano.

#2 Eden Hazard

Eden Hazard is the big hope for Madrid ahead of the Celta Vigo clash

It was coming, wasn't it? The Hazard to Madrid transfer has been nearly ten years in the making. A long-time ago Zinedine Zidane said that he would take Hazard in his team eyes closed, back when he was at Lille. And now, in the summer of 2019, Real Madrid land their target man from Chelsea and Zinedine Zidane is the manager.

However, there are plenty of problems for Madrid, starting from a demoralizing pre-season and demoralizing means the worst among all 20 teams in LaLiga. To add to the problems are the injuries in the team, no backups on the wings, and Zidane's grudge against Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez. On top of everything, Madrid hasn't even sorted their preferred formation out.

The only reason to look forward to the game against Celta is this man. The hope that this Belgian can produce something from somewhere, as he did all season for Chelsea, is the one thing that Madrid fans will be clinging on to. The team is in a situation right now, so, will be man step up to it?

#1 Antoine Griezmann

Antoine Griezmann's contribution will be crucial in Messi's absence

Numero Uno. Antoine Griezmann needs as many eyes as possible on him tomorrow. It is almost certain from Ernesto Valverde's interview that Lionel Messi won't be rushed back to the team at San Mames.

The San Mames is a dangerous away ground and Barcelona barely escaped the clutches of defeat when they visited there last season. Marc Andre ter Stegen's saves were crucial in the 1-1 draw, which would otherwise have been 2-1 or 3-1.

To win the game, you need to attack, and Barcelona's attack relies heavily on Leo Messi. Since Messi is absent, it has to be someone else, and that could be Antoine Griezmann. In the last preseason game against Napoli, Barcelona's front-three viz. Griezmann, Suarez, and Dembele were on fire.

Barcelona will look to their brilliant squad depth yet again and Griezmann, more than Suarez who is older, and Dembele who still has to improve on his end-product, will be a crucial cog in the team. Griezmann has led the Atleti attack very efficiently, watch out for him in Barcelona's attacking system.