| Goals | Goals |
|---|---|
| 20. Gonzalo Higuain (10’) | 18. Jonas (42’) |
Real Madrid held by Valencia
Real Madrid had to settle for a point in their first match of their La Liga season when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Valencia at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
Gonzalo Higuain opened the scoring for the home side inside the opening ten minutes, while Jonas Goncalves netted the equaliser just before the break.
The defending champions started strongly and deservedly opened the scoring in the 10th minute when Higuain sprung the offside trap to find himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Diego Alves.
The Valencia goalkeeper did well to block two of the Argentine striker’s shots but there was nothing he could do as he fired the third into the roof of the net.
Jose Mourinho’s side continued to dominate the game in the midfield, although they didn’t show too much urgency but they came close to stretching their lead fifteen minutes later through Xabi Alonso, but his curled shot went just wide.
Los Che then had their first real chance of the game in the 28th minute when Jeremy Mathieu beat Pepe to the ball before squaring the ball to Sofiane Feghouli, but his shot was deflected away by Fabio Coentrao.
The Portuguese left-back then squandered a chance to put his side two goals ahead ten minutes later when he was put through by a brilliant pass from Cristiano Ronaldo, but his indecision allowed the defender to block his effort.
The visitors levelled matters in the 41st minute when Brazilian Jonas Goncalves connected with a freekick from Tino Costa to head the ball past Casillas, who collided with central defender Pee while trying to go for the ball.
The Whites tried to restore their lead in the second half and in the 53rd minute Mesut Ozil crossed the ball towards Angel Di Maria who raced into the box before sending his low shot wide of the target.
Five minutes later Valencia thought they had taken the lead when Roberto Soldado rounded Casillas before slotting the ball into an empty net, but the goal was disallowed for offside, although it looked like he had been level with defender Sergio Ramos.
Then in the 65th minute Higuain came close to grabbing his second goal of the match as he connected with a Di Maria cross, only for his powerful header to bounce off the crossbar.
The woodwork saved Valencia again seven minutes later as substitute Karim Benzema saw his shot palmed onto the upright by Diego Alves, who also did well to parry a shot from Jose Callejon ten minutes later to earn a point for his side.
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