Real Madrid had to come back from behind twice against newly promoted Numancia before winning a thrilling game 4-3 in the second week of the Spanish Primera Liga.

Juan Carlos Moreno and Jose Barkero twice put the visitors ahead only for first Guti and then Gonzalo Higuain to draw Real Madrid back level.

Guti's goal was the 5000th Primera Liga goal in Madrid's history.

Further goals from Rafael Van der Vaart and an own goal from Domingo Cisma made it 4-2 to Madrid at half time, but any hopes the fans in the Santiago Bernabeu may have of an easy win were dashed when Moreno scored his second of the night with over half an hour remaining.

However, despite a late push Numancia were unable to find an equaliser and Madrid chalked up their first win of the season.

It was not the only 4-3 of the weekend as Sevilla won a thriller in the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium on Saturday night. They went two goals down to Sporting Gijon before two goals from Freddy Kanoute helped them turn things around to win 4-3.

Five games kicked off at 5pm local time on Sunday and they were all close affairs.

A late goal from striker Luis Garcia meant that Espanyol are the only side in Spain to have a 100 percent start to the season thanks to their 1-0 away win to Recreativo Huelva.

Espanyol had won their opening game of the campaign 1-0 at home to Valladolid two weeks ago and now have six points from their first two games, which means they are league leaders.

Valencia or Almeria could have gone top had either of them won their game against each other, but the match ended in a 2-2 draw thanks to David Villa's 69th minute strike for Valencia

EarlierPablo Paitti and Alvaro Negredo had twice put Almeria ahead, whiel Alexis also scored for Valencia.

Malaga and Athletic Bilbao played out a tight 0-0 draw in the la Rosaleda Stadium, while Getafe and Betis also failed to produce a goal between them in a match where Getafe had their third choice keeper Jacobo in goal.

There was another draw in Mallorca, where the home side took the lead in the first half thanks to recent signing Aritz Aduriz. The points looked destined to remain in the island until Javier Portillo leveled for the visitors with just six minutes to go.

Meanwhile Deportivo La Corua, who had beaten Real Madrid in the first game of the season, were brought down to earth by a 1-0 defeat in Villarreal.

Spain international Santi Cazorla scored the only goal of the game midway through the first half as Villarreal warmed up for their Champions League trip to Manchester United in the best possible way.

Apart from Sevilla's win, Saturday's matches produced two major surprises, Barcelona were unable to beat Racing Santander in the Camp Nou stadium. Despite having over 70 percent of the possession, it was not until the 71st minute that a Leo Messi penalty put Barcaahead.

Their lead only lasted for six minutes as Racing equalized six minutes later as Jonathan Pereira got a touch on a free kick to level the scores with virtually the visitors' only chance of a game in which saw Barca midfielder Alexander Hleb carried off with a twisted ankle.

Meanwhile Atletico Madrid lost their leadership from day one with a 2-1 defeat in Valladolid. Atletico were without Diego Forlanand Kun Aguero started on the bench after both had returned late from World Cup qualifying games and the visitors paid for it as Valladolid took a two goal lead through Javier Baraja and Vivar Dorado.

Aguero came on as a second half substitute and got Atletico back into the game, but Valladolid held on despite having Pedro Lopez sent off for a second yellow card.

Source: Xinhua