Rusty Real Madrid draw La Liga opener

MADRID: Real Madrid had an underwhelming return to La Liga as they could only draw 0-0 away to Real Sociedad on Sunday in the first game of their title defence.

The champions looked rusty and particularly toothless up front, barely creating any chances of note in either half as Karim Benzema found little support in Brazilian teenage forwards Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo.

Real spent their brief close season moving on a number of unwanted players such as Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, Achraf Hakimi and Sergio Reguilon but the only new additions were returning loanees Martin Odegaard and defender Alvaro Odriozola.

Real Betis continued their perfect start under new coach Manuel Pellegrini as they beat Real Valladolid 2-0 at home on Sunday for a second win in a row.

Nabil Fekir put Betis ahead in the 10th minute while Portuguese midfielder William Carvalho promptly extended their lead in the 18th with a volley from outside the area.

The hosts comfortably saw out the victory to add to last week's last-gasp win at Alaves.

Elsewhere, Granada notched a third consecutive win in all competitions by beating Alaves 2-1 at home thanks to a late winner from Darwin Machis after Alaves striker Joselu had cancelled out an early opener from veteran Roberto Soldado. Granada had gone into the game in a confident mood after thrashing Albanian side Teuta 4-0 in a Europa League qualifier, which followed their 2-0 opening-day win over Athletic Bilbao.

Earlier, Cadiz earned their first win in the top flight for 14 years by beating Huesca 2-0 away with goals in either half from Alvaro Negredo and Jorge Pombo. Agencies

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