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Having conquered the first two trophies of the official season -- the European Super Cup against Manchester United and the Spanish Cup against Barcelona -- Real Madrid will open their La Liga campaign Sunday against Deportivo in La Coruna. Things have changed of late, but a couple of decades ago, the Riazor stadium became a synonym for humiliating defeats. Those were the "Super Depor" times. That outstanding team revelled in showing their flair with overwhelming displays against the Madridistas. They picked apart Real Madrid in 1993-94 (4-0), 1995-96 (3-0), 1998-99 (4-0 again), 1999-2000 (5-2) and 2001-02 (another 3-0). At some point it seemed as though any Deportivo player, whatever their talent, could enjoy a fine afternoon against a shockingly disappointing Real Madrid. From the gifted Djalminha to the average but hard-fighting Claudio Barragan, many of the members of that unforgettable side can recall a few moments of anti-Madridista glory during those years. That is not the case anymore. Take last season, for instance. In April, Real Madrid won 6-2 in La Coruna with a superb performance of what became known as their B-side. Isco orchestrated a phenomenal afternoon for Madrid, who dominated the Riazor and led 3-1 at half-time. James Rodriguez (two goals) and Alvaro Morata (one) scored, a fact that presents us with the main question mark over this season's Madrid squad: Do they have enough attacking depth? Whereas the new arrivals in defence and midfield seem enough to compensate for those who left, Morata and James contributed 23 La Liga goals last season and were a menace in their displays. Someone else must step up now. It's obvious that in giving Marco Asensio and others more minutes, their numbers should increase, but the departure of that unhappy duo will also mean more minutes and less rotations for the theoretical starters. Coach Zinedine Zidane does not like the notion of A and B sides, as he made clear in Friday's prematch news conference. "There's no A or B team. We're always making changes to the lineup," he said. That is, in part, consistent with what happened last season. Analysing most La Liga matches in the final third of the season, right when Zidane found the right approach with his rotations, a few theoretical starters always featured, whether they needed to keep their shape or just to keep some sort of consistency between starting XIs. And that is much of the fun for this new season for the average Real Madrid supporter. Now that it's evident that Zidane fundamentally believes in rotations and that he will apply them with full confidence, guessing who the French manager will choose becomes an extra element of interest for most La Liga matches. The addition of promising players Theo Hernandez and Dani Ceballos -- both are bound to play a decent amount of league minutes this year -- has complemented Zidane's will to rotate with an exciting number of bench players that most fans want to see in action. But the biggest lineup question for any Madridista this season is obvious: Will Asensio start? After the kid from Mallorca cemented his wonder-boy status with memorable Super Cup performances and goals against Barcelona, the rest of the bench has become a bit less important. If his arrival last season brought an undeniable excitement among most fans, the confirmation of his talent has only increased this interest, taking it to almost overhyped levels. And the kid keeps delivering on the pitch and sounding as down to earth off it as anyone can get. Zidane praised Asensio again on Friday but, as usual, did not confirm whether he'll play as a starter. Zidane also spoke of Gareth Bale, saying, "I hope this will be a very important year for him." Without Morata and James, Bale is the key for the attacking balance of the team in a very intense pre-World Cup season, and Zidane seems determined to give the Welshman as many chances as he needs to recover his 2015 form.
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