Barcelona Kick Off with Troubling Loss to Numancia

Unlike last season, Barcelona were able to match the pace of their bitter rivals, Real Madrid.

Unfortunately for the blaugranas, that meant suffering a bitter loss to first division newcomers Newmancia in Week One of La Liga.

Foiling the debut of new Barca manager Pep Guardiola, Mario Martínez scored in the 13th minute to give Numancia an insurmountable lead. Sporting a new-look team that featured new signings Daniel Alves in the starting line-up, Alexander Hleb and Seydou Keita as substitutes, despite pounding Numancia goalkeeper Juan Pablo Colinas with 25 shots in the 90 minutes of play, only five of those shots were on goal.

Numancia, on the other hand, only needed two shots on goal to net their first three points of the season. Barcelona seemed to have a firm hold over proceedings, handling the ball with ease and creating pressure on their opponent's back line with good passing by Olympic gold medalist Lionel Messi and Andrés Iniesta. However, Numancia's defense was solid and bent, but never broke.

Before 10,000 spectators in Numancia's home park of Los Pajaritos, Bellvis struck a lob from the left wing. After striker Gorka Brit was unable to get a shot off, the ball trickled down to Mario Martínez, who slammed it past Victor Valdés for the goal. Barca struggled to get anything going after that, as the home team set up a defensive system that sometimes included nine position players (and the goalkeeper) playing in their own half of the pitch.

In the 47th minute, Messi had the best chance for Guardiola's squad, dribbling daftly past the defense and shooting on goal only to be denied. Barca's strikers were neutralized, culminating in a substitution that brought on Bojan Krkic for Thierry Henry in the 62nd minute.

Ten minutes later, Krkic wasted a chance in front of goal. As time expired, Barca attempted to up the pressure. In the 90th minute, a foul close to Numancia's goal provoked a direct free kick that Messi took, and subsequently slammed onto the right post.

In a clean game, only two players were booked: Barcelona's Carles Puyol and Samuel Eto'o.