MADRID, 2 September 2003 — The big guns did the minimum in Spain on the opening weekend of the new football season with David Beckham making a goalscoring start for Real Madrid in a 2-1 win over Betis while Barcelona won 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao.
The pick of Sunday’s action couldn’t top the frenzy which accompanied Beckham’s Primera Liga debut — but Deportivo La Coruna, third last season, did their best in recording a 1-0 win at Real Zaragoza with Walter Pandiani notching the only goal midway through the second half.
Cup winners Real Mallorca, beaten in the Super Cup by Real last week over two legs, slumped 2-1 at Racing Santander, a last-gasp penalty by Samuel Eto’o scant consolation after Israeli Yossi Shai Benayoun on 11 minutes and then Javi Guerrero on 69 had put Santander in the driving seat.
Athletico Madrid made a losing start as Julio Cesar scored Seville’s winner at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium. Celta Vigo thanked a debut goal from Yugoslav striker Savo Milosevic for a point as the side he has joined on loan from Parma drew 1-1 at home to Murcia, for whom Luis Garcia Fernandez leveled from the spot.
The Spanish media meanwhile maintained its focus on Beckham, two goals in two starts at the Bernabeu after he added to Wednesday’s header in the Super Cup win over Mallorca. It could have been three as a monster drive cannoned off the bar against Betis who were headed for a point after Juanito’s header leveled the England star’s close-range opener after just two minutes.
Ronaldo volleyed in the winner from a Zinedine Zidane cross, and while the press criticized Real for some abject defensive work, they were happy with “goldenballs” Beckham, whose handiwork was briefly interrupted by a streaker in Saturday’s game. “David’s star is already shining,” was Marca sports daily’s assertion regarding the effect of Beckham’s arrival on the side. In scoring on his home league debut for Real, Beckham follows in the footsteps of some illustrious names of glorious eras past.
Alfredo di Stefano, the man who handed over Beckham’s No. 23 shirt on the day the England skipper arrived in Madrid, also netted in his opening home match.
Coach Carlos Queiroz meanwhile proved the season starting gun had fired by opting for a well-worn cliche in admitting the performance of the team as a whole was hardly electric, save for Beckham’s crossbar strike and Ronaldo’s winner.
Monaco Welcome Morientes
and Seize League Lead
Monaco, watched by Spanish striker Fernando Morientes who has joined them on loan, beat promoted Metz 1-0 to seize the French League lead on Sunday. Monaco have gone top on 12 points, level with Olympique Marseille but with a better goal difference.
Marseille won away at AC Ajaccio 1-0, Camel Meriem scoring the only goal in the 64th minute.
Morientes, 27, watched his future team mates clinch victory against Metz after going to Monaco to discuss the final details of a one-year loan from Real Madrid.
Young defender Sebastien Squillaci nodded home in the 38th minute for Monaco who were short of a striker after Congo’s Shabani Nonda was injured against Paris St. Germain last week.
Nonda, leading goalscorer in the league last season, will be out of action for the rest of the season with a knee injury. Croatia’s Dado Prso, Monaco’s other leading marksman, was also sidelined by ankle problems although he came on as a second-half substitute.
No End in Sight to
Italian Serie B Chaos
Italian Second Division soccer looked unlikely to resume next weekend after Serie B sides repeated their refusal to accept an expansion of their division to 24 clubs.
Last week nineteen Serie B sides boycotted the first round of matches in protest against Italian FA plans to readmit relegated sides Catania, Genoa and Salernitana to the division, as well as Florence club Fiorentina.
The start of the season was postponed until this weekend, but Football League vice president Antonio Matarrese, whose organization represents the clubs in Italy’s top two divisions, said the two sides remained far from reaching an agreement.
“There’s a lot of tension and a solution is still far off. There’s little chance that Serie B will start on Saturday,” he told reporters yesterday after a meeting of the Italian FA in Rome.
