[SPAIN There was joy in Barcelona as Lionel Messi needed only four minutes to score his first goal of La Liga season ona sweet lob and send Barca, the defending champion, on its way to a 3-0 win at Racing Santander. But Real Madrid went scoreless in Jose Mourinho‘s debut ascoach and had to a settle for a 0-0 tie at bankrupt Real Mallorca.
“We are a team in construction,” said Mourinho, “I would like us to have had three points … but it’snot a dramatic situation. On a positive note, we conceded very few chances and had no problems at the back.”
Mallorca keeper Dudu Aouate stoppedArgentine striker Gonzalo Higuain on three occasions, and Cristiano Ronaldo missed a chance to give the win for Real inthe debut game for Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, Angel Di Maria,
“I’m disappointed that with the number of chances we created wedidn’t score,” Mourinho added. “When you aren’t at your best you have to do two things, defend so your opponents don’t score, and take your chances. We deserved to win.”
Playing in his Barcelona debut, David Villa joined Messi and Andres Iniesta in the scorebook at Racing Santander.
The game came after Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sold to AC Milan, ending a one-year stint at the Camp Nou.