Owen opens his account with Real Madrid

Madrid:

If there's one problem that Real Madrid probably has it's of one too many stars in the club. So much so that former Liverpool striker Michael Owen failed to make Real's starting 11. Owen, who arrived in a blockbuster transfer from Liverpool just two weeks ago, began the match on the bench along with fellow striker Fernando Morientes. The season-opener match lacked any real direction for the first quarter of an hour. But Owen eventually made his debut on 25 minutes after starting striker Raul was substituted with an injury. On 38 minutes, Roberto Carlos attempted to put the visitors up with one of his trademark long range free kicks, which unfortunately fell wide of the left goal post. Seven minutes after half-time, though, Owen made his first real contribution and his efforts yielded the game's first and only goal. Madrid held on from that point to win the contest 1-0.