Madrid, Aug 20 (IANS): The Spanish La Liga season for 2015-16 kicks off with an Andalusia derby between Malaga and Sevilla on Friday to herald the start of nine months of competition in Spain.

Malaga will be looking for a morale-boosting win after a summer which has seen them lose key players such as Samu Castillejo and Juanmi, while Sevilla aim to reproduce the form which saw them push FC Barcelona to the limits in the European Super Cup, reports Xinhua.

Once the curtain has been raised the show continues on Saturday with four more matches.

There will be a party atmosphere as Las Palmas celebrate their return to the top-flight in the Vicente Calderon Stadium against Atletico Madrid and a lot of attention will be on Atletico's new-look strike force of Antoine Griezmann and Luciano Vietto, which promises pace and goals this season.

There will also be a lot of attention focused on David Moyes' Real Sociedad after a pre-season which has left questions to be answered over the Basque club's form. 'La Real' travel to Deportivo la Coruna, who last season only avoided relegation on the last day of the season.

Saturday also sees Espanol, whose squad looks weaker than last season, entertain Getafe who are this season coached by former Elche boss, Fran Escriba.

Last season saw fans in Rayo Vallecano's Vallecas stadium complain at the anti-social kick off times their side habitually seems to receive from the league and this season kicks off in similar fashion as Rayo's game at home to Valencia doesn't kick off until 22.30 hours local time, meaning fans won't get home until 1 in the morning: hardly ideal for someone wanting to take their children to a game.

Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona must be sick of the sight of each other after playing each other twice in the past week in the Spanish Supercup, which Athletic won 5-1 on aggregate to spark massive celebrations in the city.

Now Barcelona return to Bilbao looking for revenge in a game in which both sides have important handicaps. Barcelona are without defenders Jeremy Matthieu and Gerard Pique through suspension, while Adriano, Douglas and Jordi Alba are injured.

Athletic meanwhile are without injured trip Iker Muniain, Ander Iturraspe and Xabi Exteita, and also have the handicap of playing a Europa League tie in Slovakia on Thursday night.

Real Madrid can't complain about their start to the season which sees them kick off against two newly promoted sides. Their visit to Sporting Gijon will see them have to withstand early pressure from an enthusiastic Sporting, but Real's class should tell against a team little changed from that which came up from the second division.

Levante entertain Celta, while there should be a great atmosphere as Betis return to the top flight at home to Villarreal and the first round of games ends on Monday when Granada play at home to a much-changed Eibar.