European football: Napoli make dire start, Real Madrid held at Mallorca

Napoli’s Serie A season kicked off in disastrous fashion on Sunday when they were overwhelmed 3-0 at Verona and lost midfielder Khvicha Kvaratskhelia after he collided with an opposing player.

Antonio Conte, in his first league match in charge of the 2023 champions, was forced to take off Kvaratskhelia just before half-time when the Georgian looked uncomfortable after the collision.

Napoli’s problems deepened after the break when Dailon Livramento got in front of the defence after five minutes and slotted in a cross from close range to give the hosts the lead. The nightmare continued for Napoli after 75 minutes when Daniel Mosquera received a through ball and calmly struck a right-footed shot in to double Verona’s lead.

In stoppage time, Verona scored a third as Napoli’s defence faltered, allowing Mosquera to tap in a close-range pass and complete his double.

Roma started their campaign with a goalless stalemate at Cagliari, while city rivals Lazio got off to a flying start, winning 3-1 at home against newly promoted Venezia, despite an early scare with the visitors scoring after three minutes. Bologna and Udinese played out a 1-1 draw.

Is Spain, Real Madrid’s title defence got off to a limp start as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Mallorca, with Vedat Muriqi’s second-half header for the home side cancelling out Rodrygo’s early strike and spoiling Kylian Mbappé’s domestic debut.

Real Madrid started well and took the lead thanks to a fine curling strike by Brazilian forward Rodrygo, assisted by a backheel pass by his compatriot Vinicius Jr, in the 13th minute. However, Muriqi netted a powerful header from a corner in the 53rd minute to level for the home side, who frustrated Real thereafter.

Real ended the match with 10-men after defender Ferland Mendy was shown a straight red for a sliding tackle deep into added time.

Real Sociedad were beaten 2-1 at home by Rayo Vallecano, who scored through Jorge de Frutos and Sergio Camello in the 67th and 84th minutes respectively. Martín Zubimendi, who turned down a transfer to Liverpool in the summer, scored a consolation for the hosts in the eighth minute of added time.

Meanwhile, Rennes dominated Lyon with a 3-0 victory in Ligue 1 thanks to goals from Benjamin Bourigeaud, Amine Gouiri and Henrik Meister. Lyon struggled despite fielding new signings like Georges Mikautadze and Moussa Niakhaté. Mikautadze missed a penalty, and Niakhaté was at fault for two of the goals.

Auxerre marked their return to the top flight with a dramatic 2-1 win over Nice, secured by a stoppage-time goal from Lasso Coulibaly. Lens defeated promoted side Angers 1-0 thanks to a Wesley Saïd goal in the first half. Toulouse and Nantes played out a 0-0 stalemate, while Montpellier and Strasbourg shared the points in a 1-1 draw.