Jude Bellingham found the back of the net on his debut for Real Madrid, who defeated Athletic Bilbao 2-0 in their LaLiga opener on Saturday night.
With star goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois ruled out through injury, Real had Andriy Lunin between the sticks and while Bellingham and Fran Garcia made their league debuts for Los Blancos.
A new-look Madrid hoped to settle quick and were close in that regard after Rodrygo launched a snap-shot from the near post before Unai Simon steered to safety.
Rodrygo came good during the midway stage where he showed great persistence to hold off a shove and send a loose pass from Dani Carvajal in off a sprawling Simon.
There was more work for Simon five minutes after the half-hour mark as he got down to the near side of his six-yard area to parry a powerful close-range strike from Vinicius Junior.
However, he was beaten again with ten minutes to halftime when new boy Bellingham comfortably side-footed a pin-point delivery from David Alaba into the far corner from an unmarked position.
In the second half, Los Blancos coach Carlo Ancelotti was forced to make a change after an uncomfortable slip ended Eder Militao's time and had Antonio Rudiger enter.
Bilbao looked to have some momentum following a subdued spell though failed to get any sort of rhythm nor cause the visitors problems.
Vinicius was keen to make matters worse for the host later on and came close with a snap shot from a clever run, but it was parried by Simon.
Los Blancos were still presented chances in the final minutes, but weren't able to take aim and extend their advantage though still picked up an opening day victory.
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