By Toby Prince
Barcelona opened their La Liga campaign with a victory as Real Madrid were held in Rafael Benitez’s maiden competitive game in charge.
An exquisite Luis Suarez volley sealed a hard-fought 1-0 win for champions Barcelona at Athletic Bilbao in their La Liga opener as Luis Enrique’s men gained a measure of revenge for their 5-1 aggregate loss in the Supercopa de Espana.
Despite Athletic’s stubborn defending in the third encounter between the sides this month, Barca took the lead early in the second half through Suarez’s venomous strike.
A combative but lacklustre first half was punctuated by Lionel Messi’s penalty miss just after the half-hour mark, the spot-kick having been awarded in dubious fashion after Suarez took a tumble in the area.
Defending champions Barca grew into the game in the second half, controlling much of proceedings after taking the lead, though their bad luck with injuries continued as Sergio Busquets had to be carried off on a stretcher and Dani Alves was also substituted with a knock.
Athletic struggled to pose a threat as the game wore on, with Messi almost adding a second in the closing stages, but it was nonetheless a winning start for Barca.
“We started this season at the same high level as we ended the previous one. We played a very complete game,” Coach Enrique said after the match.
“This is a contact sport and we are not having much luck, although they don’t appear to be serious injuries, it does take a toll.”
Benitez endured a difficult Real Madrid debut as his new-look side were held 0-0 by newcomers Sporting Gijon at El Molinon.
The former Napoli boss has the task of building on Carlo Ancelotti’s successful tenure at the Santiago Bernabeu, but the Spaniard has work to do on this showing as his revamped forward line failed to break down an organised Sporting side.
In the absence of the injured Karim Benzema, Jese started up front in a 4-2-3-1 system – ahead of Gareth Bale, Isco and Cristiano Ronaldo.
And while Real dominated first half possession, it was Sporting who went closest to the opener when Antonio Sanabria saw a header rattle the crossbar 10 minutes before the break.
The Paraguay forward seemed to think the ball crossed the line after rebounding down, while Carlos Carmona headed a glorious chance wide early in the second half.
But Real were left to settle for a point as they lost early ground to Barca and city rivals Atletico Madrid.
Benitez admitted his side were wasteful in front of goal.
“We lacked precision in the final pass and accuracy in the shots on goal,” said the former Liverpool and Chelsea manager.
“In general, we lost the ball too much in the first-half and gave them a lot of opportunities to counter-attack. In the second-half we had more control, more possession, more danger but without that final pass to leave you with a clear chance at goal.
“In the first half we lacked things and in the second we had much more that we needed for this type of game. We will continue to tweak and improve things like the physical condition, the precision and the coordination between the players and in that sense I remain optimistic.”
Also on Sunday, former Liverpool attacker Iago Aspas scored a 77th-minute winner as Celta de Vigo won 2-1 at a 10-man Levante.
Debutant Roberto Soldado was on the score sheet as Villarreal were held to a 1-1 draw at Real Betis.
