Real Madrid needed a wonderful free kick from David Alaba to squeeze past Almeria and get their LaLiga title defence off to a winning start as they claimed a 2-1 victory on Sunday (Aug 14) night. Manager Carlo Ancelotti made five changes from the Real side that beat Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Super Cup, with Alaba, Casemiro, Eder Militao and Luka Modric all being benched as Aurelien Tchouameni and Antonio Rudiger made their league debuts. That decision looked to have backfired when Largie Ramazani put the hosts ahead, but Lucas Vazquez equalised before substitute Alaba scored with his first touch in the 75th minute, curling in a free kick barely moments after his introduction.
Real Madrid opened their LaLiga title defence with a hard-fought victory as they came from a goal down to beat Almeria.
Largie Ramazani fired Almeria into a shock lead after just six minutes. Home goalkeeper Fernando Martinez made a series of saves to frustrate Real before Lucaz Vazquez levelled.
David Alaba struck the winner from a free-kick with his first touch after coming off the bench.
Having beaten Eintracht Frankfurt in Wednesday's UEFA Super Cup, Real came into the new LaLiga season in confident mood. But they were left stunned when Belgian forward Ramazani beat the offside trap and fired past Thibaut Courtois to put Almeria ahead.
Thwarted by Fernando on several occasions, Real thought they had levelled just before the break, but Vazquez's well-taken volley was chalked off for offside.
Vazquez got his goal, however, in the 61st minute when the ball fell kindly to him after a burst of pace from the lively Vinicius Jr.
With 15 minutes remaining, Real boss Carlo Ancelotti turned to Alaba and the former Bayern Munich player smashed a brilliant left-footed free-kick past Fernando within seconds of replacing Ferland Mendy.
Almeria had the chance to equalise three minutes into added time when Curro Sanchez's free-kick found Rodrigo Ely, but the Brazilian defender headed straight at Courtois.
