MADRID (AP) — Espanyol got off to a good start by beating Levante 3-0 in the Spanish league with a pair of goals from Roberto Fernández in the first weekend of action across Europe’s top domestic leagues on Sunday.
La Liga was the first of the main five leagues in Europe to start, less than a month after its national team won the World Cup.
Fernández scored first-half goals and English forward Tyrhys Dolan sealed Espanyol's opening victory at home with a late score.
Also Sunday, Racing Santander made its return to the top flight after a 14-year absence with a 2-2 draw against Villarreal, the third-place finisher last season behind champion Barcelona and second-place Real Madrid.
Barcelona and José Mourinho’s Real Madrid won’t start their campaigns until next weekend because they had players return late from the World Cup.
Racing led 2-0 at home before Villarreal evened the match with goals a minute apart late in the first half.
Espanyol finished 11th in the league last season after a strong start that kept it near the top of the table early on. It later endured an 18-game winless streak that left it in danger of relegation.
Levante barely escaped demotion last season, finishing in 16th place.
Another game had been scheduled for Sunday, Celta Vigo against Osasuna, but it had to be postponed because of a fungus outbreak on Celta’s Balaidos field. It was rescheduled to Aug. 27 despite complaints by Osasuna.
Two games took place on Saturday. Alaves defeated 10-man Getafe 3-0 and Sevilla rallied to beat Rayo Vallecano 2-1.
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