Málaga had to play for over 60 minutes with ten men after Movilla was sent off for elbowing De Lucas. However they came through in the end, beating Espanyol 1-0 with a second half goal by Catanha. Darío Silva lined up for Málaga against his old club, who included youngsters Lopo and Javi López in to replace Pochettino and Nando, both injured. The home side also included all four Madrid players signed in the close season, Rojas, Fernando Sanz, Edgar and keeper Contreras, who was the star of the match. Espanyol included their three Argentinian signings, keeper Cavallero and defenders Rotchen and Navas.

Sevilla returned to the big time with a squad which included six Uruguayan internationals. Of all the newly promoted teams they are the ones with the best chance of staying up, with a long history of 57 seasons in the first division behind them. They quickly found themselves behind however against Real Sociedad after De Pedro blasted in a shot from outside of the area in the sixth minute. Twelve minutes later they were level when Juan Carlos followed up after Olivera had hit the post, and the crowd erupted ten minutes before half time when Greek international Tsartas placed a free kick wide of Alberto to take the lead. Real came back in the second half, and De Pedro equalised from the penalty spot to share the points at 2-2.

Celta had been the best side in pre-season tournaments, and many people were tipping them this year with shrewd new signings including McCarthy, Kaviedes, Turdó and Celades to join an already strong squad. They got off to a bad start however against Luis Aragonés's Oviedo, who narrowly beat them 1-0 in the opening game of the season. The only goal came from new signing Danjou, who headed in Pompei's free kick in the 56th minute. Although they have no stars to speak of (Dely Valdés excepted?), Luis is a clever manager and should get the best out of his side.