Reigning La Liga champions Real Madrid came from behind to beat Almeria 2-1 in La Liga on Sunday. David Alaba’s free-kick after coming on as a substitute proved to be the difference in the match. This was their opening game of the season.
Earlier, Largie Ramazani scored the opening goal for Almeria. However, Lucas Vazquez equalized after the hour mark. Real were made to work hard for the points against an Almeria side who won last season’s second-tier title to return to La Liga after a seven-year absence.
Alaba and Modric were among the players who dropped to the bench. At one point, it looked like Madrid might suffer a defeat in their opening league game for the first time since 2008. But Real bounced back hard to score a win.
Barca held for a goalless draw
In their opening La Liga match, Barcelona was held to a goal-less draw by Rayo Vallecano. Sergio Camello nearly grabbed a winner for Vallecano but it was not to be for the Spanish side. Meanwhile, Barca midfielder Sergio Busquets was sent off in stoppage time for a second yellow card.
Barca had registered four of their new signings to play only 24 hours before kick-off. Barca was unable to write new players because of La Liga financial regulations, but freed up funding with several “economic levers”. This allowed Lewandowski, Andreas Christensen and Raphinha to start this game, while Franck Kessie was named on the bench.