Wesley Sneijder may not sell as many Real Madrid shirts as David Beckham but the Dutch international, who inherited the England star's number 23 shirt, certainly has his dead-ball skills, scoring twice as the champions crushed Villareal 5-0 on Sunday.
Earlier Barcelona had notched their first win of the new season with Brazilian Ronaldinho scoring twice in a convincing 3-1 victory over Athletico Bilbao.
But Real were even more impressive building on last weekend's 2-1 derby win over Atletico, who drew 1-1 with Mallorca on Sunday, with their humiliation of Villareal who had won their last nine league matches.
PHOTO: AP
Captain Raul opened the scoring on 38 minutes before Sneijder stole the show with a fantastic free-kick reminiscent of Beckham in his prime.
"I am really happy with his goals. We know he has good technique and a shot that can be very effective," Real coach Bernd Schuster said. "I am sure he is going to score more goals this season."
The former Ajax man scored again for his third goal of the season with compatriot Ruud Van Nistelrooy, the league's top scorer last season, and Guti completing the rout.
PHOTO: AP
"Scoring first was very important today," Schuster said. "The first five minutes [when Real scored twice] of the second half were also good for us because it left them deflated. Next month is important for us because we start the Champions League campaign but at the moment we are going to enjoy it because you don't score five goals every day."
Real are the only team with a maximum six points with Barcelona and a number of other teams chasing on four.
French international forward Thierry Henry, a 24 million euro (US$33 million) summer signing from Arsenal, made his first league start in Barcelona's colors but it was Ronaldinho, top scorer last season with 21 goals, who took the headlines against Athletico Bilbao.
Ronaldinho scored a trademark free-kick after just eight minutes, the club's first goal of the season, and he was on target again on 34 minutes converting a penalty after Henry had been felled in the area.
Henry came off to a standing ovation just after the hour mark with just a goal missing from a stellar display.
"Henry showed his quality and how dangerous he can be in games like this," Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard said. "I was happy with the result and thought we played with a lot of energy especially in the first half when we created a number of chances. We dropped off in the second half but took the points and that is important."
Valencia, fourth last season, got their season on track with a late 2-1 win over Almeria.
Veteran Spanish international forward Fernando Morientes replaced the suspended David Villa in attack and proved an able deputy netting shortly after halftime to put his team in front.
However, Almeria equalized and Valencia, who lost 3-0 to Villareal in their opening game, needed a rare goal from Italian Emiliano Moretti ten minutes from time to seal their first win of the season.
Elsewhere, Real Betis showed there is room for sympathy in soccer with all their players donning the number 16 shirt with the name "Puerta" on the back as a tribute to Antonio Puerta -- who played for their arch-rivals Sevilla -- who died on Tuesday from multiple organ failure.
Betis scored twice in the final seven minutes of the match to rally and salvage a 2-2 draw with Espanyol.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later