Opening day defeats for Real & Barca

Barcelona and Real Madrid both suffered surprise defeats on the opening weekend of the Primera Liga season.

Pep Guardiola's team dominated for long periods at newly-promoted Numancia but were undone by a defensive lapse after just 12 minutes, when Mario was left unmarked in the area and fired home what turned out to be the winner.

Madrid's 2-1 loss at Deportivo La Coruna was not so unexpected with the Spanish champions now without a league win at the Riazor since the 1992/93 season.

Alberto Lopo bagged the winner for the Galicians early in the second half, shortly after Ruud van Nistelrooy had cancelled out Mista's first-half strike.

There were no such worries for city rivals Atletico Madrid, who thrashed sorry Malaga 4-0 at the Vicente Calderon.

Getafe left it late but ultimately got Victor Munoz's reign off to a winning start with a 2-1 triumph at newly-promoted Sporting Gijon.

Almeria also began life under a new coach - Gonzalo Arconada - with an impressive victory, 3-1 at Athletic Bilbao.

Elsewhere, Marco Ruben scored the only goal of the game in the 36th minute as Recreativo Huelva prevailed 1-0 at Real Betis.

The other two matches in Spain on Sunday finished in 1-1 draws.

Racing Santander missed a penalty through Ezequiel Garay but came back to earn a point against Sevilla when Juanjo cancelled out Luis Fabiano's opener.

Osasuna came from a goal down to snatch a deserved point against Villarreal in a bad-tempered game, which saw both sides finish with ten men.