Lucas Vazquez and David Alaba struck in the second half as Real Madrid sealed a come-from-behind victory over newly promoted Almeria in the first game of their title defence.
Almeria, who, in the sixth minute, stunned the behemoths by taking the lead in front of a packed home stadium. Ex-Manchester United kid Largie Ramazani opened the scoring on the night, timing his run to perfection beyond the Real backline before confidently finishing past Thibaut Courtois.
There was a stroke of luck about Real Madrid’s equalizer – which arrived a minute past the hour-mark. After Vinicius Jr had his initial shot saved by Fernando Martinez, the ball fell to Karim Benzema, who rolled it to Lucas Vazquez for a tap-in into an empty net. The Spaniard had a goal disallowed in the first half for offside, but there were no doubts this time as he wheeled away in celebration with his teammates.
And the celebrations would return not long after. Seventy-five minutes in, substitute David Alaba stepped up and won the game for Los Blancos, the Austrian firing in a free-kick off the post – Fernando left rooted to his spot. With the three points in the bag, the champions travel to Celta Vigo and Espanyol next.
Elsewhere, former Real Madrid wonderkid Takefusa Kubo scored the only goal for his new side, Real Sociedad, in their narrow win over Cadiz. The Japanese ran in behind the opposition backline in the 24th minute before bringing down Mikel Merino’s superb long-pass with a feather-like first touch and firing the ball past custodian Jeremias Ledesma.
Meanwhile, former AC Milan player and manager Gennaro Gattuso began his stint as the manager of troubled-club Valencia with a 1-0 win over the newly promoted Girona.
Vice-captain Carlos Soler scored the only goal from the spot after a handball inside the Girona box, and Los Che defended the lead for the remainder of the match – forty minutes of which they played with ten men after Eray Comert’s red card – to secure the points.
