Surprises already on the opening day of the league, with several of the hot favourites falling by the wayside. Zaragoza's star-studded side lost 2-1 to a Levante team which had been cobbled together in the last few days after the club was put into legal administration. Geijo had been allowed to stay on though, and he put the Valencia based club ahead in the first half after picking up a pass from Parri. Rubén Suárez added a second with a quarter of an hour to go, and Oliveira's penalty following a foul on Arizmendi came too late to change the result.

Javier Clemente's Murcia lost 1-0 to a Rayo Vallecano side who were two divisions below them last season. Ex Racing Santander striker Aganzo headed in the only goal early on, and Pachón could have increased the lead when he hit the bar after the break. Dialiba missed a good chance to equalise, but the visitors ended with ten men after Peña picked up a second booking near the end.

Celta were also beaten by one of the newly promoted teams, Girona pulling off a surprise 0-1 victory in Balaidos. The Catalans had not played at this level in 50 years or so, but they took the three points thanks to a well taken goal by Jaume Duran, who controlled a failed clearance and left Edu Moya for dead before beating Notario with a quarter of an hour to go.

Only Real Sociedad managed to win amongst the teams tipped for promotion, but even they had problems before they finally beat Las Palmas 1-0. The Canary Islanders rattled the woodwork twice with efforts from Marcos Márquez and Sergio before Sergio Rodríguez won it with a late free kick, virtually Real's first effort on target throughout the match.

Later in the evening Las Palmas's neighbours Tenerife beat Gimnàstic 3-2 to move to the top of the table pending Sunday's games. Nino put them ahead from the penalty spot on the stroke of half time after Diop fouled Sicilia, and although Moisés and Arpón turned the scoreline around after the restart, two in the last three minutes from Angel ensured the three points for the home side.

Elsewhere Xerez joined the group at the top of the table with a 0-1 victory at another of the new sides Alicante, Ricardo Cavas turning Antoñito's shot into his own net late on. Other than that though, the two stars of the match were keepers Unanua and Chema. (30.08.08)

Hércules are the second division leaders after day one, the Alicante based side winning 0-3 at Córdoba on Sunday. Ex Mallorca striker Delibasic got the first two in a five minute period leading up to half time after errors by local keeper Raúl Navas, and Morán got the third with four minutes to go following a corner.

Albacete finally got off to a good start after a couple of disappointing seasons with a 2-1 victory over Sevilla Atlético. It was a close thing though, Diego Costa getting the winner in injury time after Gallardo and Cordero had been sent off for the visitors. Marco Navas opened the scoring shortly before the break, but Fali equalised for the visitors late on when they were already down to ten men.

Another of the pre-season favourites Elche faltered though and were beaten 0-1 by Eibar. David Vidal's side were unable to make any inroads in to a staunch Basque defence, and with the game coming to an end Athletic Bilbao's on-loan striker Tokero picked up a pass from Cases to score the winner.

Earlier in the day Salamanca and Alavés shared the points in a 0-0 draw. The Vitoria based side clearly turned up looking for a point, and despite losing keeper Bernardo to an injury with only a quarter of an hour on the clock they kept the door firmly shut. The local frustration was clear when Català was sent off in injury time.

Huesca and Castellón also got their first points on the board after a 2-2 draw later in the evening. Rubén Castro got the first for the home side early on, but Camacho was sent off for handling in the area and Mario Rosas equalised from the resulting penalty before half time. Roberto put the locals ahead after the restart, but Rosas equalised with his second of the night a few minutes later. Numbers were evened up in the end when Pedro was also sent off in the last minute. (31.08.08)