Real Madrid Drop Points in La Liga Start while Barcelona Romp to Victory

Monday, 20th August, 2012

Real Madrid dropped points last night as they opened their La Liga title defence with a draw at home to Valencia.

Jose Mourinho’s men took the lead against Los Che in the 10th minute through Gonzalo Higuain – but the floodgates did not open and the visitors stood firm.

Having kept the hosts from scoring further goals, Valencia grabbed an equaliser three minutes before half-time when Brazilian striker Jonas found the back of the net.

And despite Real Madrid pushing in the second period, they could find no way through Valencia’s defence, meaning their title defence starts with a home draw.

While Mourinho was quick to accept that his men had not perhaps had their best day at the office, he did insist that in his view they had done enough to win the game.

"Perhaps if we had played a little better, if we had played like we did in the second half, we would have had more opportunities", mused the Portuguese.

"Perhaps it if had gone in off the post. But football isn’t about maybes.

"We have drawn and it is a point for both teams. We played well enough to win, but we should have and can play better."

Elsewhere in La Liga, Barcelona made no mistake, getting their season off to the perfect start by beating Real Sociedad 5-1 at the Camp Nou.

Also notably Real Betis won a thriller at San Mames, coming off best against Athletic Bilbao, winning 5-3.