Atlético Madrid's publicity campaign for the new season was a picture of Kiko in striking pose in front of a wall of flames, with the caption "one year in hell...". However as everyone knows, in hell your dreams tend to turn into nightmares, and Atlético's reveries of an easy return to the first division were shattered by an efficient Levante side who only just missed out on promotion themselves last season. The match featured the top goalscorers from the first and second division last season, Salva and Salillas, and after Salillas had given the home side a lead with an individualist goal, Atlético's new star signing levelled the scores by half time. However three more in the second half from Levante through Roa, Kaiku and then an Alberto penalty in the last minute (with Hernández getting red carded in the incident) gave Levante top spot and sent Atlético crashing to the foot of the table. The Madrid side have spent 5.8 billion Pesetas on new signings this season (albeit more than paid for by the sales of Hasselbaink and company), incredibly almost three times the money spent by the other 21 teams put together, and this was not the start they were looking for. However, with a record number of 40,000 season ticket holders this year despite going down (the third highest in Spain), they should bounce back. Elche have also made some good signings, including Celta's Brazilian international Mazinho and Deportivo's new young striker Changui, on loan for a season, and they move second after beating promotion hopefuls Salamanca 2-0, with a 40 metre strike by Nino and a late goal by Changui. They were however helped by the referee who sent off two Salamanca players and then their manager Juan Señor. Sevilla started on their comeback trail with a 2-1 victory against newly promoted Murcia, with all three goals coming in the second half, and Albacete beat Tenerife 1-0 with a very early goal by Sabas, the first of the season in the league. They were joined on points and goal average by Jaén, who won the battle of the newly promoted teams beating Racing Ferrol by the same score. The other relegated side Betis earned a point in a goalless draw at Compostela, one of five such results in a low scoring day. In a match played at lunchtime on Sunday, Leganés drew 1-1 with Extremadura, with both goals coming from the penalty spot.