Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Target in La Liga Debut

ESPN's commitment to airing European soccer matches continued Monday afternoon when instead of the block of "Around the Horn" and "Pardon the Interruption" it was reigning La Liga champion Barcelona hosting Sporting Gijon in their 2009-10 league debuts.

Viewers were able to watch as Barcelona dominated over the 90 minutes at Camp Nou winning 3-0 with big-money summer transfer Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring on a header in the 83rd minute.

Ibrahimovic's goal matched the output of Barcelona's eternal rival's big summer transfer, as Cristiano Ronaldo tallied from the penalty spot in Real Madrid's 3-2 win over Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday.

Barcelona, which lost its first league match last season before rolling to the title, managed to dominate without its three big scorers from last season absent from the Nou Camp field. Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi were each held out of the lineup, with Messi already on his way back for Argentina's crucial upcoming World Cup qualifiers and Henry rested after Barcelona's 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in Friday's UEFA Super Cup. (The third, Samuel Eto'o, is now plying his trade at Inter Milan as part of the Ibrahimovic deal.)

No matter, rising star Bojan Krkic flashed the skills that had both Spain and Serbia in a bidding war for his national team services. Krkic scored the opener in the 18th minute and dazzled throughout, before limping off with an apparent injury in the 80th minute.

During the ESPN telecast commentator Adrian Healey posed a question to analyst Robbie Mustoe if with its influx of stars from England's Premier League and Italy's Serie A if La Liga had become the preeminent league in the world. Mustoe, wisely, deferred to pass judgment until the later stages of the Champions League come to pass.

Whatever your thoughts, it's certainly a storyline that will continue as ESPN continues airing matches from the Premier League and La Liga in build up to the 2010 World Cup in June.

It's too bad it's highly unlikely that debate between the Premier League and La Liga will ever spill over to any of ESPN's endless string of debate shows.