Real Madrid’s La Liga title defence got off to a stuttering start when they dropped two crucial home points in a 1-1 draw with Valencia on a hot Sunday night in the Spanish capital.
Gonzalo Higuain put Real ahead on nine minutes before Jonas Goncalves equalised just before the interval for a plucky Valencia side.
Jose Mourinho decided to start with Higuain, leaving Karim Benzema on the bench, perhaps to reward the Argentine striker’s decision to stay at the club over the summer.
Also surprising was Mourinho’s decision to start with midfielder Lass Diarra ahead of Sami Khedira.
Valencia’s new coach this season Mauricio Pellegrino started with three new signings in Joao Pereira, Andres Guardado and ex-Real Madrid midfielder Fernando Gago.
“I expected more from my team, last season when we drew 0-0 the best player for Valencia was Guaita (the keeper) and today it has been Alves, we did not play a great game but we did enough to win,” said Jose Mourinho.
The game began with Cristiano Ronaldo taking less than two minutes to show his intent, cutting in from the left to fire a shot narrowly wide, but from that moment on the Portuguese star was subdued.
When Angel Di Maria went close on four minutes it seemed that Real had never been away. Indeed they looked to be coasting when they took the lead five minutes later.
Di Maria took advantage of a very high Valencia defensive line to float a perfect pass through to Higuain who found himself alone in front of Diego Alves in the Valencia goal.
He had so much time that the Valencia bench were convinced he was in an offside position and he saw two shots blocked by the Brazilian before finally converting at the third attempt to grab Madrid’s first goal of the season.
Attacking sorties were so rare for Valencia that it was completely out of the blue when the equaliser came on 41 minutes.
Tino Costa floated a free-kick towards the home team’s penalty spot and Jonas emerged out of a group of players to head home.
The Brazilian midfielder’s brave attempt to reach the ball was timed so well that Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas and defender Pepe collided in mid-air and needed five minutes of treatment before the game could restart.
Also last night, Barcelona thrashed Real Sociedad 5-1 with two goals from Lionel Messi and one each for Carles Puyol, Pedro Rodriguez and David Villa, in his first game back after eight months out with injury.
Primera Liga
Ath. Bilbao vs Betis - 3-5
Barcelona vs R. Sociedad - 5-1
R. Madrid vs Valencia - 1-1
Levante vs A. Madrid - 1-1
Playing today
Deportivo vs Osasuna - 19.00
R. Vallecano vs Granada - 21.00
Zaragoza vs Valladolid - 23.00