La Liga 2022-23, Real Madrid beat Almeria 2-1: Key stats
What's the story
Reigning La Liga champions Real Madrid made a superb comeback in the second half to defeat Almeria 2-1 in their season opener. The 2022 UEFA Super Cup winners had gone behind after Largie Ramazani gave Almeria a shock lead in the sixth minute. In the second half, Real rallied back with goals from Lucas Vazquez and David Alaba to start with a win.
Win
Real fight back to seal victory
Former Manchester United striker Largie Ramazani fired Almeria with a sublime shot after beating the offside trap. Almeria keeper Fernando Martinez made a series of saves to frustrate Real before Lucaz Vazquez equalized for the visiting side. Former Bayern Munich ace David Alaba struck the winner from a free-kick with his first touch after coming on as a substitute.
Alaba
Notable records for Alaba
As per Opta, Austrian defender Alaba is the third Real Madrid player to score from a direct free-kick as a substitute in La Liga since 2003-04 (Guti in 2009 and Dani Ceballos in 2019). He has also scored the fastest league goal by a Real Madrid substitute since 2005-06 (28 seconds).
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Alaba one of two La Liga players to attain this feat
Notably, Alaba is one of the two Spanish league players to have scored two direct free-kick goals across all competitions since last season. Nabil Fekir is the other player.
Opta stats
New records for Real Madrid
A total of four French players started for Real Madrid against Almeria (Camavinga, Tchouameni, Benzema, and Mendy), which is the first time ever for the side in La Liga. Los Blancos had 12 corners in the first 45 minutes against Almeria. This is their highest total in a first half of a La Liga game since at least 2003-04.