Barcelona off to winning start while Real Madrid struggle

Barcelona gained a measure of revenge for their Supercopa mauling at the hands of Athletic Bilbao by claiming a 1-0 win at San Mames in the opening round of the new Primera Division season.

However, Barca’s arch-rivals and main title rivals Real Madrid were unable to give new boss Rafael Benitez a winning start as they were held to a frustrating goalless draw by newly-promoted Sporting Gijon.

Barca were humiliated 5-1 on aggregate by Athletic in the Supercopa, including suffering a 4-0 thrashing in the first leg at San Mames.

Luis Enrique’s men enjoyed a much more satisfactory return to the Basque country on Sunday, though, as Luis Suarez’s 54th-minute volley from Jordi Alba’s cross gave them the victory.

Last season's treble-winners had missed a great chance to take a first-half lead when Lionel Messi saw his penalty saved by Gorka Iraizoz, but it did not prove costly as Barca began their title defence with a three-point haul.

Madrid, looking to become Spanish champions for the first time since 2012, were unable to follow suit later on, though, as they drew 0-0 at El Molinon.

Ahead of the match Benitez faced questions about a possible goalscoring problem for his side after they failed to net in four of their eight pre-season friendlies, but the Spaniard was confident they would put any debate to bed against Sporting.

However, despite having 25 shots on goal compared to just five from Sporting, Madrid’s star-studded side failed to find the breakthrough.

And they might even have ended up returning empty-handed from their trip to the north coast had Sporting striker Antonio Sanabria’s first-half header crossed the line after crashing down off the underside of the bar, rather than bouncing out.