Almería vs Real Madrid

After a Saudi takeover helped propel them back to La Liga, the minnows pushed the European champions all the way.

Ramazani too was expected to go – although he insisted he wants to stay on Sunday. This is a club “in construction”, in Rubi’s euphemistic words, the return to primera met with excitement and gratitude but uncertainty too. A club with the resources to get there – far more so than others in segunda – and in theory to stay there. The following season, a goal in the last minute of the last game took the title off Eibar – somehow defeated at already relegated Alcorcón – and sent Almería up as champions instead. What comes next is unclear too, with the club over their salary limit – in part at least because of the cost of promotion. The former minister of sport, chairman of entertainment authority, advisor to the crown and president of the Arabic football federation, he has a fortune of €2,100m. They still don’t have mugs in the club shop, but he did raffle off Audis at games to encourage fans to turn up, paid for coaches like Emery and Quique Setién to come and chat football with him, and got videos from Charlie Sheen, Snoop Dogg, Diego Maradona and Dennis Rodman. How, he didn’t say, but then it was more about the photos, the noise made. Re-founded in its current guise in 1989 and beginning in the local leagues, they reached the first division for the first time in 2007, as UD Almería and with Unai Emery as coach. We have taken the best team in the world to the edge.” There had been a reaction to resist, goalkeeper and DIY enthusiast Fernando Martínez making three hugely impressive saves and Madrid racking up 12 corners and 17 shots in the first half, seeing a goal disallowed for offside too – but the storm had abated a little. After seven years away from the first division, it took less than seven minutes for Almería to score there, earlier than anyone had done against Madrid in 15 years. Almería had returned to primera for the first time since 2015, faced Real Madrid in their opening game, and proprietor and president Turki Al-Sheikh, the minister in charge of entertainment at the Saudi royal court, didn’t have much faith. Which is one way to describe Largie Ramazani. Because now, five days later, Al-Sheikh was sitting alongside Florentino Pérez in a plush sofa a little out of place in a football stadium and watching the impossible happen below, like some act of divine intervention.

Real Madrid kicked off their LaLiga title defence with an away victory against UD Almeria. The hosts held their own for the first half, frustrating Los ...

His creativity was unparalleled, and only a marginal offside deprived him of what would have been an exquisite assist in the first half. Far from the best debut in the world, however, Tchouameni did have a handful of good moments. Sadiq and Ramazani caused him immense problems, and in the first half, it was he who kept the latter onside to open the scoring. In the first half, the Frenchman suffered under pressure. Far from the debut, he would have wanted, but there are more games to come. At right-back in place of Dani Carvajal, Vazquez did a sensational job in defence and attack.

David Alaba scored the winning goal as Real Madrid came back from a goal down to beat newly-promoted UD Almeria 2-1 in La Liga on Sunday.

Some of his link-up play was sharp while he was involved in the moves leading to the goals. Was solid in defence and helped Real Madrid see out the game. His introduction helped Real Madrid improve their control of the proceedings. Dropped deeper in the second half which allowed him to control the proceedings better. Much like Rudiger, Nacho hardly looked comfortable in the early stages of the game, with Umar Sadiq causing him problems. There were some positives, with his progressive passes catching the eye for one. It was a hard-fought victory for Los Blancos, with Almeria’s Fernando Martinez making it difficult for them as he pulled off 13 saves on the night. Real Madrid continued to keep the pressure on their opponents after the break and it finally paid off as Vazquez managed to level things up in the 61st minute. He got his goal the second time around, though, with a neat finish that brought Madrid level. In the end, though, Carlo Ancelotti’s champions pulled through to start their La Liga campaign on a winning note. Showed steady improvements as the game wore on, but the German international will need to do much better to keep Eder Militao and David Alaba out. Almeria, back in La Liga after seven years, had the full backing of their vociferous home support and riding on it, they opened the scoring just six minutes in through Largie Ramazani’s fine finish.

Real Madrid began their LaLiga Santander season with a scare yesterday when Largie Ramazani put Almeria ahead early on against the giants.

Among those who participate in these votes, Socios.com will raffle an official LaLiga weekly match ball. Each match will have a winner - once all the games of the matchday have finished, a poll will be launched in which readers will be able to choose the Decisive Player of the matchday from among the 10 winners of the 10 matches. MARCA.com will activate a poll in its live coverage of each LaLiga Santander match so that registered users can vote for the player they consider to have been the decisive player of the game.

SportsBrief.com News ☆ Carlo Ancelotti could pass for a seer after David Alaba revealed the veteran Italian tactician had told him he was going to score ...

After the goal, he said to me, 'See, I told you!'" Real Madrid defeated Almeria 2-1 after coming from behind with goals from Lucas Vazquez and David Alaba to nullify the initial advantage given the newly-promoted side by Largie Ramazani. David Alaba had scored a 74th-minute set piece to hand Real Madrid the lead against the newly promoted team just moments after coming on as a substitute for Los Blancos.

David Alaba's inch-perfect free kick earned Real Madrid a 2-1 comeback victory on Sunday night and gave it the perfect start to its La Liga title defense.

In the first half, we had good opportunities and were unfortunate not to score, but the team continued to show belief and it's a deserved win in the end. We knew it was going to be tough against a newly-promoted side in front of their home fans," he told the Real Madrid website "We had a tough spell, but I think ultimately the win and the way the team felt out there are positive. After the goal, the game swung in Real's favor as it turned up the pressure, but it still took a moment of magic to get a winner. I'm pleased to have helped the team out with a goal and the most important thing is the win." Toni Kroos' delicate cross into the box was volleyed home by Vázquez, only for the linesman to rule it offside.

Substitute David Alaba needed one touch to help Real Madrid rally to victory in its Spanish league opener.

Valencia finished ninth in the league last season and club owner Peter Lim, a Singaporean businessman, remains under attack by fans over his policies. “The substitution came at the time of the foul and he is very good from that position. Gattuso took over from José Bordalás, who was fired despite leading Valencia to the Copa del Rey final in his single season in charge. Kubo picked up a nice pass by Mikel Merino behind the Cádiz defender and scored with a shot from inside the area in the 24th minute. After talking to the coach, Alaba sprinted from the bench and went straight to the free kick spot, then curled a well-struck shot that went over the wall and hit the post before going in. The 75th-minute foul happened just in time for Alaba to come off the bench and score on his first touch to help Real Madrid rally to a 2-1 victory over promoted Almería.

EDEN HAZARD helped Real Madrid complete a comeback win over Almeria in his new role as a striker on Saturday.Real Madrid were trailing Almeria 1-0 whe.

Hazard has struggled with injuries since moving to the Bernabeu in 2019. Militao and Alaba formed a strong partnership last season as Real Madrid won La Liga and the Champions League, with Los Blancos getting their title defence off to a perfect start with the win over Almeria. EDEN HAZARD helped Real Madrid complete a comeback win over Almeria in his new role as a striker on Saturday.