Nobody expects Barcelona to slip, at home, against smaller teams. Hercules are a newcomer to the Spanish 1st division, and in their second match in the top league, nobody awaited them to shake the mighty Catalans. But lo and behold! The beauty of football is that Hercules against all odds won 0-2 on two goals by the Paraguayan striker Nelson Haedo Valdez.
It was a Barcelona side where coach Guardiola, perhaps arrogantly, decided to experiment with many new players: Abidal played in defence, while both Adriano started in, while the Argentinean newcomer from Liverpool, Javier Mascherano, played one meager half. It does not bode well for Barcelona's reserves!
Although Barcelona had possession of almost 75% it was a complete off-day for the Catalonians, while everything seemed to work for Hercules, who with their many new purchases will be interesting to watch this season, and has indeed opened with a bang!
In the meantime, Valencia is in the lead, after defeating Racing de Santander 1-0, and with two consecutive victories.
Real Madrid got their first victory of the season, 1-0 at home against Osasuna. It was not a very convincing Real Madrid side, although they should have won with a larger margin, and were only prevented by the Osasuna goalkeeper. The best thing on the Real Madrid side was undoubtfully the German Mesut Özil who dominated the midfield, and may look to have a central role on the Madrid side this season. He will undoubtfully be interesting to follow.
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