Alaba intervention spares Real's blushes

David Alaba scored with a stunning freekick immediately after coming on as a substitute as reigning champion Real Madrid came from behind to beat Almeria 2-1 in their opening game of the season in La Liga on Sunday.

Carlo Ancelotti's men trailed to an early goal by Largie Ramazani away against their promoted opponent, but Lucas Vazquez equalized just after the hour mark.

The winner arrived with 15 minutes remaining at Almeria's Power Horse Stadium, as Alaba strode onto the pitch and curled a freekick in off the upright after Luka Modric had been fouled just outside the box.

Real was made to work hard for the points against an Almeria side who won last season's second-tier title to return to La Liga after a seven-year absence.

"We had lots of shots on goal but once we got the first goal it made things much easier for us," said Ancelotti.

"I am happy with the way the game went. We were not spectacular but there were lots of things to take into account, like the game on Wednesday and the heat."

At one point it looked like Madrid might suffer a defeat in its opening league game of the season for the first time since 2008, with Ancelotti's decision to rotate his squad not initially paying off.

The Italian had made five changes to the lineup that started in Wednesday's 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Super Cup in Helsinki, when goals by Alaba and Karim Benzema gave the defending European champion the first silverware of the campaign.

Alaba and Modric were among the players dropped to the bench, while offseason signings Antonio Rudiger and Aurelien Tchouameni were handed first competitive starts for their new club.

Yet the game was just six minutes old when former Chelsea defender Rudiger was caught out by a ball over the top and Ramazani ran through to beat Thibaut Courtois.

Ramazani, a 21-year-old Belgian winger who used to be on the books at Manchester United, ran off to celebrate in acrobatic fashion as Saudi-owned Almeria enjoyed a dream start to its topflight comeback.

Yet the host needed some inspired goalkeeping from Fernando Martinez to keep it ahead into halftime, with the standout save coming low to his left to deny Rudiger five minutes before the break. Vazquez then had the ball in the net in the 43rd minute only to be denied by a very tight offside call, but the fullback was the man who dragged the away side back level in the 61st minute as he pounced on a loose ball in the area to score.

AFP