Betis went to Bilbao's San Mames stadium, known as the cathedral of football, praying for the resurrection of the team under new manager Carlos Timoteo Griguol. The man of the thousand hats, who is renown as one of Argentina's most veteran and respected managers (he was Cúper's guru), was brought in by controversial president Ruiz de Lopera to turn around the team's fortunes after a disappointing season under Javier Clemente (and four more). In the end however it was the home side who came away with the three points, the only goal of the match being scored by Joseba Etxeberria from Ezquerro's pass just after half time. It remains to be seen whether the new signings brought in by Griguol, Crosa and Romero, make any difference when they join the squad. If not, Lopera will not wait long in losing patience. The crunch day may be the 13th October, the day of the local Sevilla derby. Events off the field of play had captured the attention during the week, with Lopera and Sevilla's president Carrión exchanging insults. The loser of the derby will have a lot of explaining to do. Bilbao meanwhile are hoping for a good season, free of the weight of European football which put a strain on their resources last year.

Last season's champions Barcelona got of to a good, if late start, with a 2-0 victory over Zaragoza. Both goals came within a two minute period late in the game after Van Gaal had taken off Kluivert for Dani. Figo scored the first after Guardiola had won back a ball in midfield, and Dani scored the second from Sergi's cross. With both De Boers, Abelardo and Litmanen out, youngsters Gabri and Nano came on to make their league debuts later in the game. Zaragoza disappointed after scoring 53 goals in pre-season matches, seeming to be content with the 0-0 draw and reacting too late when Barça scored.

Although it is probably too early to draw up league tables, Barcelona are second equal behind Deportivo de la Coruña, who beat the other Deportivo, Alavés, by 4-1. New signing Roy Makaay scored a debut hat-trick and made a fourth for Djalminha after Alavés had taken the lead on the quarter hour from a good strike from Morales. La Coruña needed the win to calm their nerves after a traumatic pre-season in which manager Irureta had brought in several home players and had fallen out with the foreign stars, including Naybet, Schurrer, Bassir, Djalminha and Helder. Alavés manager Mané, who looks like having another long hard season, decided to leave Julio Salinas on the bench and play Kodro alone up front.