By David Lee Wheatley
The Spanish league campaign got underway last weekend as top
two sides in the country Barcelona and Real Madrid both recorded victories in
their opening day fixtures.
Saturday’s action set the scene for week one, with Real
Sociedad warming up for their Champions League qualifier with Lyon by easing to
a win over Getafe 2-0. Former Arsenal man Carlos Vela gave them a precious
first-half lead and Seferovic finished the job with twenty minutes remaining.
Fellow Basque side Athletic Bilbao beat Valladolid 2-1 away, with goals from
Susaeta and Muniain coming either side of an equalising strike by Ebert. And, having
narrowly missed out on a Champions League qualification spot last season,
Valencia started well when overcoming Malaga 1-0 at home thanks to Ricardo
Costa.
Reigning champions Barcelona started their title defence by
putting Levante to the sword in spectacular fashion during Gerardo Martino’s
first league outing as head coach at Camp Nou, with a stunning 7-0 thrashing
handed out. Alexis got things going with a 3rd-minute strike, extraordinarily
followed by another five before half-time from Lionel Messi (2, 1 pen), Dani
Alves, Pedro and Xavi. The Blaugrana
took it easy on their visitors in the second period, scoring just once through
Pedro for his double to round off a truly sumptuous display.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid didn’t enjoy proceedings all their
own way against battling opponents Real Betis, as the Andalusia side took an early
advantage through Molina to shock the Bernabeu with quarter-of-an-hour gone. It
seemed to wake the hosts into life and Karim Benzema slotted home a low shot
from the left-hand of the penalty area to level the tie eleven minutes later.
Real toiled until four minutes from time, when new boy Isco rose majestically
to power a header past the keeper, thus handing Los Blancos a key victory, even at this very early stage of the
season.
Other results on Sunday saw Granada nick three points away
to Osasuna with a 2-1 scoreline and Atletico
Madrid defeated a much-changed Sevilla 3-1 away, thanks to an impressive double
from former Liverpool target Diego Costa, plus a 90th-minute hit
from Rodriguez to end the match as a contest. Perotti brought Sevilla level
after Diego Costa’s opener, but the home side simply couldn’t live with their
dangerous foes and duly crumbled as the clash progressed.
There were three fixtures scheduled for Monday evening featuring
a glut of goals; Rayo Vallecano trounced Elche 3-0 at home, newly-promoted
sides Almeria and Villarreal met in a 3-2 away win for the Yellow Submarine and Celta Vigo and Espanyol shared the spoils in a
2-2 draw.
It all represents a fantastic opening round of matches in La
Liga for a season that promises great excitement in the months ahead.
Twitter: @davewh1980
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