Pedro made an instant impact on his Blues debut as Chelsea survived a scare against West Brom to win 3-2. Luis Suarez’s impeccably timed volley ensured that Barcelona enjoyed a winning start to their title defence in the La Liga. Real Madrid were incredibly profligate in front of goal, as new boys Sporting Gijon held on to win a point against Rafa Benitez’s side. Manchester City continued their winning run with an impressive 2-0 victory against Everton.
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Pedro, who snubbed Manchester United to sign for Jose Mourinho’s side, put his skills on show with a goal and an assist, to end Chelsea’s winless run in the Premier League. James Morrison had his penalty saved by Thibaut Courtois in the 14th minute and six minutes later, Pedro made West Brom pay when he opened his account with a deflected goal. The Spaniard assisted his countryman Diego Costa with a clever cross to make it 2-0 at the half-hour mark. James Morrison made amends for his miss, when he reduced the deficit when he smashed a shot past Courtois. Cesar Azpilicueta restored his side’s two goal lead when he coolly slotted home Deigo Costa’s chested ball.
Chelsea were in pole position at the break and it seemed Chelsea would see the remaining 45 minutes through, when John Terry was shown a straight red card for bringing Solomon Rondon down at the edge of the 18-yard box. West Brom capitalized almost immediately, when James Morrison cleverly looped in a header into the top corner. Callum McManaman came close to equalizing but the Blues held on to win all three points at the Hawthorns.
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Aleksandar Kolarov and Samir Nasri made three wins out of three for Manchester City to equal a club-record of 9 straight league wins. Kolarov opened the scoring just before the hour-mark when he finished Raheem Sterling’s lay-off from a tight angle, before Samir Nasri exquisitely clipped the ball over Tim Howard in the 87th minute to end all hopes of a late comeback for the Toffees.
Lionel Messi’s poor penalty run continued, as the Argentine superstar had his tame effort saved by Gorka Iraizoz just after the half-hour mark, the spot-kick having been awarded under controversial circumstances, after Luis Suarez was ‘felled’ in the area. Luis Suarez spared Messi’s blushes, when the Uruguayan volleyed home Jordi Alba’s precise cross. Athletic Bilbao, who thrashed Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup failed to pose a threat as the game wore on and Barcelona in the end quite comfortably won all three points, even though the Catalans lost Sergio Busquets and Dani Alves to injuries.
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Real Madrid endured an unremarkable first league game under new manager Rafa Benitez, as the capital side slumped to a frustrating stalemate against newly promoted side Sporting Gijon, despite the fact that they took 27 shots. Jese, who started as the lone striker in the absence of Karim Benzema had 60 minutes to forget before he was replaced by James Rodriguez. Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale both came close to scoring but were thwarted by the ‘keeper and the side-netting respectively. The former Napoli boss tweaked his highly successful predecessor Carlo Ancelotti’s formation with 4-2-3-1 system but to no avail as his attacking unit were oddly off-colour for the entirety of the match.
Juventus slumped to an opening day defeat against Udinese, as Massimiliano Allegri’s new-look side in the absence of Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Carlos Tevez were astonishingly wasteful in front of goal and were punished when Cyril Thereau scored a goal in the 78th minute to end Juve’s 47-match unbeaten streak at home. Inter Milan rode on new signing Stevan Jovetic’s late winner to earn all three points against Atalanta, while rivals AC Milan were humbled 2-0 by Fiorentina.
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