Madrid, Aug 13 (IANS) Real Madrid began their season with a 2-0 win away to Athletic Bilbao but lost defender Eder Militao to what looks like a serious knee injury, just two days after Thibaut Courtois was ruled out for the season with a torn cruciate knee ligament.
Andriy Lunin was in goal for Courtois but had little work to do in a tight first half, which tilted Madrid’s way after first Rodrygo and then Jude Bellingham took advantage of some poor defending from the home side, reports Xinhua.
Rodrygo was given space to fire Madrid ahead in the 27th minute and nine minutes later Bellingham was able to celebrate his league debut with a goal after he was left unmarked at a corner.
The midfielder mishit his shot but had the fortune to see it bounce up and over Athletic keeper Unai Simon.
Militao had to be helped off in obvious pain after slipping and falling badly early in the second half, which saw Athletic try to react, but fail to create chances to get back into the game.
Real Sociedad were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Girona with Take Kubo’s first-half opener for the home side canceled out by a 72nd-minute header from Girona’s recent signing Artem Dovbyk in the first ball he touched after coming on as a substitute.
Las Palmas’ return to the elite ended in a 1-1 draw at home to Mallorca, with Jonathan Viera putting the home side ahead in the 29th minute from the penalty spot.
Vedat Muriqi sent a penalty onto the crossbar before the break for Mallorca, but Antonio Railio leveled for the visitors with 20 minutes to go.
Two first-half penalties which were slammed home by Isi Palazon and Kteka gave Rayo Vallecano and new coach Francisco Rodriguez a flying start to the season with a 2-0 win away to Almeria on Friday evening.
Valencia stunned Sevilla with a 2-1 win on Friday, with the visitors overcoming a lack of signings to take the points from the Europa League champions.
Mouctar Diakaby put Valencia ahead in the 57th minute and although Youssef En-Nesyri leveled soon afterward, Loric Bade’s red card left Sevilla with 10 men and Javi Guerra claimed the points for Valencia with three minutes left to play.
–IANS
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