SATV, Kathmandu, Aug. 24 - Jose Mourinho's second spell in charge of Real Madrid began with a last-gasp 2-1 victory at Espanyol in La Liga on Saturday, with substitute Carlos Espi pouncing in the 90th minute to grab the winner.
Jude Bellingham opened the scoring in Los Blancos' opening fixture of the season, and new signing Espi secured the points at the death after Alex Calatrava had levelled against Mourinho's star-studded team. "I think that we deserved to win but that Espanyol didn't deserve to lose," Mourinho told reporters.
"They didn't have any players at the World Cup and have been working together for a long time, and you could see that."
Back in charge of Madrid 13 years after leaving, Portuguese veteran Mourinho must bring the dressing room under control after the chaos of last season, and end Spanish champions Barcelona's domestic dominance.
Mourinho started with superstars Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Bellingham, as well as handing debuts to Bernardo Silva, Denzel Dumfries and Ibrahima Konate.
Inter thrash Monza
Rome: Inter Milan kicked off the defence of their Serie A title in emphatic fashion on Saturday, cruising to a 4-1 home victory over promoted Monza.
The reigning Italian champions needed just six minutes to break the deadlock when Hakan Calhanoglu blasted in from distance.
Monza, back in the top flight after a season in Serie B, levelled through Gustavo Varela in the 29th minute.
Inter restored their advantage shortly after the restart, with Piotr Zielinski finding the net in the 48th minute.
Pio Esposito, preferred in the starting line-up to Marcus Thuram, made it 3-1 eight minutes later with an inventive backheel finish from Andy Diouf's cross.
Yann Bisseck completed the scoring in the 63rd minute as Inter underlined their status as clear favourites to retain the Scudetto.
"We were a bit rusty during the first half, a bit too frantic as well,"
Inter coach Cristian Chivu told DAZN. "We regained our calm and clarity after the break."
Napoli, who finished runners-up to Inter last season, struck two late goals to brush aside Genoa 2-0 and get new coach Massimiliano Allegri off to a winning start.
Allegri, a six-time Serie A winner as a coach, is looking to make a statement after being dismissed by AC Milan following just one season in charge.
Last season's surprise package Como needed a second-half equaliser from Greece forward Tasos Douvikas to earn a 1-1 draw at Udinese.
Como will play in the Champions League for the first time next month after finishing fourth under Cesc Fabregas.
Big-spending Spurs crushed
London: Michael Carrick insisted he would not blast his Manchester United's flops despite a dismal 2-0 defeat at Hull in their opening game of the Premier League season, while big-spending Tottenham slumped to an embarrassing 3-0 loss against Brentford.
Carrick's side were rocked by first half goals from Semi Ajayi and Nobel Mendy at the MKM Stadium on Saturday.
But the stoic Carrick was determined to keep his composure to avoid the kind of emotional outburst that doomed his sacked predecessor Ruben Amorim last season.
Tottenham have splashed out over £200 million ($272 million) in a bid to improve a squad that narrowly avoided relegation to the Championship on the final day of last season.
Roberto De Zerbi gave debuts to four of his new recruits as Sandro Tonali, Andrew Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Jan Paul van Hecke all started, while Mateus Fernandes came off the bench in the second half.
But Brentford, assembled on a fraction of Tottenham's budget, ran riot in west London with a dynamic display that exposed the flaws in the visitors' costly rebuilding plan.
Keane Lewis-Potter and Vitaly Janelt netted for Keith Andrews' side in the first half before Michael Kayode struck after the interval.
"I am sorry for the defeat. I know we have to improve in our physical condition and the organisation. There were many new players but it was the first game. It's part of our journey," De Zerbi said.(AFP)
