Sevilla bounced back from their Champions League failure with a 4-1 win over promoted Levante on Saturday to ease the pressure on coach Antonio Alvarez.
A brace from Frenchman Abdoulay Konko and further goals from Alvaro Negredo and Renato gave Sevilla and Alvarez a much-needed boost after the disappointment of losing to Braga in their Champions League last week.
Sevilla got off to a nightmare start with debutant Luca Cigarini handballing to concede a penalty after just 10 minutes and Ruben Suarez made no mistake from the spot.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Alvarez looked a worried man on the touch-line, but his side replied two minutes later when Konko bundled home and Negredo then put them ahead through a 28th-minute penalty.
Konko grabbed his second on 62 minutes and Brazilian Renato bagged a fourth late on to give the visitors a convincing win.
In other matches, Valencia showed there was life after David Villa as a quick-fire Joaquin brace helped the Champions League hopefuls to an opening 3-1 win over Malaga.
Winger Joaquin, 29, inherited Villa’s No. 7 shirt following the striker’s move to Barcelona and he took on the goalscoring mantle by scoring twice in four minutes to seal victory for Valencia.
“We went out with the right mentality and we have managed to continue where we left off last season,” Valencia coach Unai Emery said. “It is going to be a long season and it was important to win to gain some early confidence.”
Debutant Aritz Aduriz had put Valencia ahead nine minutes into his debut, before Sebas Fernandez equalized shortly before the break.
With the scores level, former Spain international Joaquin made the breakthrough, cutting inside on his right foot to thunder in a low shot on 70 minutes and then volleying a second four minutes later to wrap up the points.
Valencia, who also sold midfielder David Silva to Manchester City in the summer, join Athletic Bilbao on three points at the top.
Earlier, Spanish World Cup winner Fernando Llorente scored the decisive goal as Bilbao won 1-0 at promoted Hercules in the curtain-raiser to the La Liga season.
The 25-year-old Llorente powered in a header 60 seconds after the restart for the first goal of the new season and it was enough to give Bilbao the three points.
Bilbao finished an impressive eighth last season and hope to be pushing for a European spot once again, having held on to their stars Llorente and Javi Martinez.
Also on Saturday, Barcelona agreed to let Zlatan Ibrahimovic join AC Milan in an initial loan deal that allows the Italian side to pay the 24 million euro (US$30 million) fee in three installments.
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