Real Madrid have already dropped precious points as they were held to a goalless draw by Mallorca, but Barcelona allowed no surprises by recording a comprehensive win in Santander.
Barcelona started the title defense with an impressive 3:0 win over Racing Santander with the Catalans needing just three minutes to show their opponents who was the boss in La Liga.
It was Leo Messi who scored one of his trademark goals after chipping the ball over Racing keeper, having previously skipped past several opposing defenders.
The hosts returned into the game and managed to keep Barcelona strikers at bay for almost half an hour, but it was then Andres Iniesta’s turn to steal the spotlight, as the midfielder scored a beautiful volley from almost 30 yards out.
Racing then missed a glorious chance to get back into the game as Tchite’s penalty was saved by Valdes and it was then clear that Barcelona would have no problems holding on to their advantage.
Pep Guardiola’s side continued to push forward in the second period and David Villa made sure that the entire front line gets on the scoresheet, after heading home from Dani Alves’ pin-point cross to make it 3:0.
The remaining 30 minutes offered us almost no excitement as Barcelona easily guarded their completely deserved lead.
Real Madrid were always going to have problems against a very good Mallorca side and Los Merengues indeed struggled to create any openings in the first half.
Cristiano Ronaldo threatened a couple of times from distance and we saw a couple of shots from the hosts as well, but neither team were able to break the deadlock in the first period.
Los Merengues stepped up the pace in the second period and they became much more dangerous when Mourinho introduced Mesut Ozil and Karim Benzema, but despite enjoying a lion’s share of possession, they were unable to break the deadlock and had to settle for a goalless draw.
This is hardly a promising start for Jose Mourinho’s reign at Santiago Bernabeu and it is more than clear that this time will need some time to gel. We are yet to see if Barcelona will be able to create a decent advantage before that happens.
Earlier results:
Espanyol-Getafe 3:1 (Osvaldo 34’, 55’, Datolo 90’ – Galan Inigo 62’)
La Coruna-Zaragoza 0:0
Osasuna-Almeria 0:0
Real Sociedad-Villarreal 1:0 (Prieto 57’)
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