Barcelona began their title defence in some style as Isco impressed for Real Madrid on his league debut with the usual suspects picking up wins on the opening weekend of the La Liga season.
It was contrasting wins for Barca and Real though as the former battered Levante 7-0, while Carlo Ancelotti and co. were made to sweat to a 2-1 win over Real Betis with Isco and Karim Benzema getting the vital goals.
"We started with a win at home, which is important," Isco, who made a summer move from Malaga, said. "It's the first goal I've scored from a header in La Liga and I am very happy to win three points.
"We were a little surprised by Betis, but it's the first match of La Liga, we need to improve but it was important to win.
"We need to work a bit harder, but we have a good feeling about Madrid for the rest of the season."
Jorge Molina opened the scoring for Betis in the 14th minute, before Benzema equalized 12 minutes later.
It took Real until the 86th minute to find the winner when Isco headed in the all-important goal to give Real all three points.
"We did everything we could," Ancelotti said. "I said to the players that the first match is never easy. We played well in preseason and we are excited.
"We didn't play well, but that's normal. The most important thing is to win the match, and I think we deserved to win because we created many opportunities to score. Honestly, Betis played well. They are a good team."
At the Camp Nou, it was a walk in the park for Barcelona as a double from, who else, Lionel Messi sent the champions on their way to the first win of the season, while Cesc Fabregas showed exactly why he is needed at Barca with an outstanding performance.
Pedro also had a brace while the other three goals came from Alexis Sanchez, Dani Alves and Xavi Hernandez.
"The debut exceeded all my expectations," Martino told a news conference.
"I am not looking for a Barca modeled by Martino. I was already a fan of Barca's concepts of play before I came, and all I want them to do is to do some things they have forgotten or stopped doing.
"We put them under pressure well and kept it going for a long time."
In other games on Sunday, Atletico Madrid got their campaign off to a storming start with a 3-1 result at Sevilla, thanks to a double from Diego Costa, while Granada were 2-1 winners over Osasuna.
Results: Sunday: Barcelona 7-0 Levante; Real Madrid 2-1 Real Betis; Osasuna 1-2 Granada; Sevilla 1-3 Atletico Madrid.
Saturday: Real Sociedad 2-0 Getafe; Real Valladolid 1-2 Athletic Bilbao; Valencia 1-0 Malaga.
