MADRID: A late goal by substitute Antonio Nunez earned Spanish champions Real Madrid a 1-1 draw away to a well-organized Villarreal side in their second match of the season on Tuesday.

The young midfielder, making his league debut for Real, got his head to a curling David Beckham corner four minutes from time to cancel out a spectacular strike by Villarreal substitute Sonny Anderson.

The goal of the night, though, came from Barcelona's Ronaldinho who scored with a brilliant solo effort to earn his side a 1-1 draw against Sevilla on his home debut in a late, late match at the Nou Camp stadium.

The Brazilian forward skipped his way past two Sevilla defenders before letting rip with an unstoppable shot from the edge of the area early in the second half to cancel out striker Jose Antonio Reyes's 10th minute penalty for the visitors.

Barcelona opted to stage a night of "football for insomniacs," as their website described it, after Sevilla refused their request to play on Tuesday.

Barca had hoped that up to five of their first-team regulars, due to join up with international squads on Tuesday, would be given the green light to play the game and report for duty a few hours late.

In the end, only Portuguese winger Ricardo Quaresma received authorization but Barcelona still opted to go ahead with the late, late kickoff.

In the Real game, England captain Beckham scored after just three minutes of his home league debut on Saturday, but made a less spectacular start for Real this time out. But he gradually found his range from set pieces and nearly grabbed the winner with two dipping free kicks at the death.

The midfielder suffered a minor groin injury during the match, but told reporters he expects to be fit for England's Euro 2004 qualifier against Macedonia on Saturday.

In Tuesday's other matches, last season's runners-up Real Sociedad were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Celta Vigo and have yet to record a victory this term.

Serbian striker Darko Kovacevic put Sociedad in front with a 37th-minute header after former Celta midfielder Valery Karpin had dinked in a cross from the right, but the Galician side levelled the match when Savo Milosevic struck with a sharp volley midway through the second half.

Tuesday's results meant that Real, Barca, Sevilla and Valencia are all tied with four points apiece at the top of the table, but they could be overtaken by Racing Santander and Deportivo Coruna who play their matches on Wednesday.

'Groin thing'

Beckham expects to be fit for England's Euro 2004 Group Seven qualifier against Macedonia on Saturday.

"It's like a groin thing," Beckham told reporters. "We'll have to see what it's like tomorrow but I don't think it's going to be a problem.

"Hopefully, it should clear up by Saturday so fingers crossed it'll be alright tomorrow."

Beckham's injury, however slight, will be a major headache for England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson before Saturday's away clash against Macedonia and Wednesday's game against Liechtenstein at Old Trafford.

Eriksson has already lost key midfielders Steven Gerrard and Trevor Sinclair for at least the first of those games, and Paul Scholes for both.

Beckham was given special permission to play his second league game for Real on Tuesday before joining up with his England teammates for training on Wednesday.

Beckham gave Eriksson an early scare when he went down clutching his ankle after a first-half challenge with Rodolfo Arruabarrena. The England captain picked himself up, only to receive a yellow card for going in with his studs raised.

At the end of the game, Beckham was accosted by two fans who ran on to the pitch.

One managed to put his arm round the former Manchester United player and tried to take a photograph before being hustled away by security guards.

New faces

With Brazilians Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos and Argentine midfielder Esteban Cambiasso on international duty Real Madrid fielded a much-changed line-up including several new faces at the Madrigal stadium.

Three former reserve-team players started in an inexperienced defence, centre back Ivan Helguera was pushed into midfield to replace the departed Claude Makelele and young striker Javier Portillo played up front alongside Raul.

Villarreal dominated the early exchanges as new signing Juan Roman Riquelme ran the show in midfield but they failed to take full advantage, former Atletico Madrid striker Jose Mari spurning several good chances.

Real suffered a serious setback when French playmaker Zinedine Zidane was forced off through injury just before the half hour, but Villarreal will be regretting they did not make more of their domination.

Real improved at the start of the second half, with defenders Francisco Pavon and Michel Salgado providing the major threat to the Villarreal goal.

Pavon hit the post with a header after a Beckham corner and Salgado volleyed against the bar after racing on to a neat pass from Luis Figo.

But it was Villarreal who took the lead when Anderson scored with a stunning first-time volley after racing on to a perfect through ball from Riquelme.

The celebrations were short-lived, though, as Nunez had the final say with a well directed header four minutes from time.

Agencies via Xinhua

(China Daily 09/04/2003 page8)