Day 2
Racing frustrate winless Barca
Substitute Jonathan Pereira's strike earned Racing Santader an unlikely 1-1 draw against Barcelona at Camp Nou after Lionel Messi had come off the bench to put the Catalan side ahead.
The 21-year-old Periera, on loan from La Liga rivals Villarreal, stretched out to poke home Ezequiel Garay's free-kick on 75 minutes and leave Pep Guardiola's Barca with just a solitary point from their opening two matches.
The home side had taken the lead just minutes before, when Messi calmly converted from the penalty spot after Fernandez Christian was correctly adjudged to have handled Andres Iniesta's wicked right-wing cross.
The goal came as welcome relief to the notoriously hard-to-please Barca faithful, whose team were beaten 1-0 away to Numancia in their opening La Liga fixture.
With the equaliser came the white handerchiefs and after Barca had toiled in vain to grab a late winner boos rang out in the stadium and Guardiola was left in no doubt as to the demands of his new tenureship.
In truth the result was harsh on the home side, who dominated throughout and but for the brilliance of Racing 'keeper Antonio Tono would have won at a canter.
Just shy of the hour mark the impressive Pedro met Iniesta's cross with a fierce drive - only to be denied by Tono's instinctive dive.
Samuel Eto'o came closer still on 68 minutes, timing his run perfectly to send a shot on target from barely six yards out. Once again, Tono made the save and Barca were frustrated.
The introduction of Messi as a second-half substitute served to re-invigorate the home side, and after he had put them ahead it looked as though the floodgates would open and Barca fans would leave contented.
Periera took advantage of lax marking to score moments later, however, and leave Barca languising in the bottom half of the table.
One notable absentee from the match was Thierry Henry - for whom Guardiola could not even find a place on the substitutes' bench.
Real survive seven-goal scare
Promoted Numancia twice took the lead before falling 4-3 to champions Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in La Liga.
The newcomers from Soria, who beat Barcelona 1-0 on the opening day of the season, took an early lead through Joan Carlos Moreno. Jose Barkero restored their advantage just after Guti had levelled for Real.
Gonzalo Higuain, Rafael van der Vaart on his league debut, and an own-goal from Domingo Cisma gave the home side what appeared to be a comfortable 4-2 halftime lead.
But Bernd Schuster's side were the ones hanging on at the end after Moreno's superb second-half free-kick had the visitors chasing an unlikely point in the closing stages.
Real, who lost 2-1 at Deportivo Coruna in their season-opener, were behind after only seven minutes when Moreno was gifted a free header at a corner.
Guti's long-range effort deflected off a Numancia defender to level the scores at 1-1 in the 19th, Real's 5000th goal in league competition.
But Numancia's Barkero thumped a 20-metre drive into the top corner three minutes later, prompting another swift reply from the home side when Ruud Van Nistelrooy fed Higuain to level again at 2-2.
Van der Vaart's snap shot beat Juan Pablo Colinas at his near post in the 34th and Cisma headed into his own net at a corner just before the break.
Numancia continued to press forward. Moreno curled a superb freekick in over the wall in the 57th and Real were against the ropes when Gorka Brit just failed to get a touch on a cross at the back post, in injury time.
"It was to be expected. These games after international weeks are always the hardest," Schuster said.
"When we were 4-2 up we didn't manage the game very well. We deserved to win by more but eased off too much in the second half."
Sevilla Edge Sporting In Thriller
Frederic Kanoute scored twice to lead Sevilla to a thrilling 4-3 win at home to Sporting Gijon on Saturday night.
The striker netted in the 36th and 60th minutes, adding to goals from Javier Chevanton (22) and Enzo Maresca (37).
A hat-trick from Mate Bilic was not enough for Sporting Gijon, despite them being two up within 20 minutes. Bilic notched in the 18th and 20th minutes and made it 3-3 from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time.
Atletico Madrid's dream start to the season came to an abrupt end
Atletico lost 2-1 to 10-man Real Valladolid.
Atletico came into the game on the back of consecutive 4-0 victories, but were two goals behind after 30 minutes thanks to Angel Vivar Dorado (four) and a Javier Baraja penalty.
The hosts were reduced to 10 men just minutes before winning the decisive spot-kick when Pedro Lopez received two yellow cards in 10 minutes.
But despite their numerical disadvantage Valladolid were able to hold on even after Argentinian star Sergio Aguero had come off the bench to claw a goal back for Atletico just after half-time.
Elsewhere: In the late game, Valencia twice come from behind to earn a 2-2 draw at Almeria, with goals from Alexis and David Villa cancelling out efforts from Pablo Piatti and Alvaro Negredo.
Earlier, Spain striker Luis Garcia snatched a late winner to give Español a 1-0 away win over Recreativo Huelva and top place in La Liga.
Garcia completed a counter-attack by firing low into the far corner five minutes from time in a game with few chances for either side.
Español have six points from two games, after beating Valladolid 1-0 at home in their season opener, and are two ahead of the pack.
Villarreal who face Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, edged Deportivo Coruna 1-0 at home with a fine turn and shot from outside the area by Spain winger Santi Cazorla, in the first half.
Getafe joined Villarreal on four points after drawing 0-0 at home with Real Betis, missing out on the chance to join Espanyol at the top when Juan Albin crashed a late penalty against the crossbar.
Real Mallorca were denied three points in the final moments against Osasuna as Javier Portillo struck in the 85th minute to cancel out Aritz Aduriz's effort, while Jose Rey saw red for the home side.
Malaga and Athletic Bilbao's fixture also ended goalless to leave both sides without a win in their opening two games of the new campaign.
Table:
1 Español 6
2 Valencia 4
3 Almería 4
4 Sevilla 4
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5 Villarreal 4
6 Getafe 4
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7 Atlético 3
8 Real Madrid 3
9 Numancia 3
10 Valladolid 3
11 Deportivo 3
12 Recreativo 3
13 Racing 2
14 Osasuna 2
15 Barcelona 1
16 Betis 1
17 Athletic 1
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18 Mallorca 1
19 Málaga 1
20 Sporting 0
