Ramos sees red to equal inglorious La Liga record

Sergio Ramos set an unwanted record after being sent off in Real Madrid's 3-0 La Liga win over Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday.

The central defender, famed for his hard-hitting style of play, was sent off in the closing stages of the game after collecting a second yellow card.

Having caught Borja Valle with an arm during an aerial duel, the referee brandished the red card, the 18th Ramos has seen in La Liga.

The 31-year-old subsequently equals Xavi Aguado, formerly of Real Zaragoza, and Pablo Alfaro, also a Zaragoza alum, as the players with the most dismissals in the division's history.

Real otherwise enjoyed a smooth evening as they began their title defence, with Gareth Bale, Casemiro and Toni Kroos all on the scoresheet for Zinedine Zidane's men.

Casemiro's goal marked another milestone, the midfielder firing home after a move involving 44 passes - the most before a goal in La Liga since the 2006-07 season.

Lionel Messi pulled the strings in Barcelona's season-opening win in La Liga, despite suffering the indignity of a rare hat-trick of misses.

Barcelona got the new campaign off to a winning start after beating Real Betis 2-0 in a subdued atmosphere at the Nou Camp.

Messi would have scored a hat-trick on any other day but he was denied by the woodwork on three separate occasions in both halves.

Despite the win there was a subdued feeling at the Nou Camp before and during the game with only 56,480 supporters going to the 99,000-capacity arena.

The club announced it had granted fans' requests to return tickets in the wake of Thursday's Barcelona terror attacks, which killed 14 people and injured more than 100.