Real Madrid got their title defense up and running on Sunday, grinding out a 4-3 home victory over newcomers Numancia, who shocked the reigning champions by taking the lead twice.
It was a first win of the campaign for Real following their 2-1 loss at Deportivo La Coruna and bolstered confidence for tomorrow’s Champions League opener against Belarus minnows BATE Borisov.
Stand-in captain Guti had the honor of scoring Real’s 5,000th league goal to equalize, before Gonzalo Higuain netted and Rafael van der Vaart scored his first goal in a Real shirt. An own goal from Domingo Cisma proved decisive as Real registered their first three points of the campaign — something their rivals Barcelona have yet to achieve.
PHOTO: AFP
“The games after the international break are the most difficult,” Real coach Bernd Schuster said.
“They [Numancia] were always going to cause trouble for us as they had two weeks to prepare for this match and had beaten Barcelona,” he said.
Schuster also called for caution ahead of the BATE Champions League game.
“In theory they are the easiest opponents, but we have to tread carefully,” the German manager said.
Numancia took a sixth-minute lead when Juan Moreno arrived at the back post completely unmarked to head home. Guti equalized on 18 minutes with the help of a huge deflection, but Jose Barkero put Numancia back in front with a terrific 21st-minute long range effort.
The lead was short lived as Higuain equalized for Real four minutes later and van der Vaart caught the goalkeeper off guard to put Real in front, before an own goal handed Real a 4-2 lead at the interval.
Moreno scored a fantastic free-kick to make it 4-3 and Real had some worrying moments in the closing stages, but survived to move eighth.
Earlier, Villarreal, runners-up last season, warmed up for their Champions League trip to Old Trafford to face reigning champions Manchester United with a 1-0 home victory over Deportivo La Coruna.
It was a first win of the season for Villarreal, Champions League semi-finalists in 2006, who will hope to pile more misery on United after their 2-1 league loss at Liverpool.
Spanish international Santiago Cazorla, a target for Real during the transfer window, scored the decisive goal on 27 minutes with a fierce left-footed shot to fire his team up to sixth.
“I am satisified with the win,” Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini said. “We had lots of chances and the victory was fair, but it would have been by a bigger margin had it not been for the performance of [Daniel] Aranzubia [the Depor goalkeeper] and us rushing some things.”
Espanyol are the new league leaders following a 1-0 win over Recreativo Huelva, with Luis Garcia striking six minutes from time.
Garcia was expected to leave in the summer, but has scored in both of their opening wins to delight Espanyol coach Bartolome Marquez.
“I am really happy with Luis [Garcia], not just because of the goal but also because of his work rate,” Marquez said.
Espanyol, who fell apart in the second half of last season, are now the only team with a maximum six points from their first two fixtures.
Valencia coach Unai Emery failed to win on his return to former club Almeria — where he spent two successful seasons — and his team needed a David Villa strike to salvage a 2-2 draw on Sunday.
Valencia’s Alexis canceled out Pablo Piatti’s opener for Almeria, but Alvaro Negredo, 23, enhanced his growing reputation with a great header four minutes later.
Villa leveled on 68 minutes to rescue a point for Valencia, who went second.
Spanish La Liga
Team P GD PTS
1 Espanyol 2 2 6
2 Valencia 2 3 4
3 Almeria 2 2 4
4 Sevilla 2 1 4
5 Getafe 2 1 4
6 Villareal 2 1 4
7 Atletico Madrid 2 3 3
8 Real Madrid 2 0 3
9 Numancia 2 0 3
10 Deportivo La Coruna 2 0 3
11 Valladolid 2 0 3
12 Recreativo Huelva 2 0 3
13 Osasuna 2 0 2
14 Racing Santander 2 0 2
15 Barcelona 2 -1 1
16 Real Betis 2 -1 1
17 Athletic Bilbao 2 -2 1
18 Mallorca 2 -3 1
19 Malaga 2 -4 1
20 Sporting Gijon 2 -2 0
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