Villarreal goalkeeper Sebastian Viera thwarts an attempt by Real Madrid’s Antonio Cassano (middle) in their Spanish League match in Madrid on Sunday. (AFP)

Madrid: A new-look Real Madrid started the season in disappointing style when they were held to a 0-0 draw by Villarreal at the Bernabeu on Sunday.

Fielding all four of their signings, Fabio Capello’s side gave a solid display in defence but lacked ideas in attack and were jeered off the pitch by their fans at the final whistle.

The game of the day was at the Riazor where Deportivo Coruna came back from a goal down to beat Real Zaragoza 3-2, while Gimnastic Tarragona marked their return to the top flight after a 56-year absence with a 1-0 win at Espanyol.

Bernd Schuster’s Getafe took a surprise 2-0 victory at Osasuna and neighbours Atletico Madrid also got off to a winning start when an early strike from Fernando Torres earned them a 1-0 win at Racing Santander.

The visitors had to play the second half with 10 men after new signing Yourkas Seitaridis was sent off for a reckless tackle on Racing midfielder Felipe Melo just before the break.

Valencia opened the season on Saturday with a 2-1 win over Real Betis. Athletic Bilbao host Real Sociedad in the Basque derby in Sunday’s late match.

Real Madrid’s new signings, Fabio Cannavaro, Emerson, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Mahamadou Diarra made the starting line-up against Villarreal but were unable to help Capello to a winning start on his return to the Bernabeu.

There was plenty of muscle in midfield and defence, but up front Real rarely managed to trouble Villarreal keeper Sebastian Viera and it was the visitors who had the best scoring chances of the match.

Meanwhile, troubled Juventus got off to the worst-possible start in the new season as they were knocked out of the Italian Cup on penalties by Napoli after the third round match finished 3-3 at the end of extra time.

Having been demoted to Serie B for their role in the Italian match-fixing scandal Juventus joined the rest of the lower league clubs in the early stages of a competition they paid scant regard when at their pomp.

Around 60,000 spectators packed out Naples’s San Paolo Stadium in the hope of reliving the electric atmosphere of the mid-1980s, when Juventus, guided by Michel Platini, challenged Diego Maradona’s Napoli for Serie A domination.

The charms of both teams have since faded. Napoli have battled against bankruptcy since their last top flight match more than five years ago and won promotion from the third tier of the Italian game last season.

Juventus, meanwhile, have sold the heart of their team and are still fighting against their demotion and the stripping of their last two Serie A titles.

It was 2-2 at the end of normal time when a goal late in the second period of extra-time by Alessandro Del Piero seemed to have sealed the match for Juventus.

But Napoli defender Paolo Cannavaro — the younger brother of Italy’s World Cup-winning captain Fabio who was sold by Juventus to Real Madrid in the summer — grabbed a last-gasp equaliser to set up a penalty shoot-out, which the home side won 7-6 when Juventus defender Federico Balzaretti hooked the ball over the bar. (Reuters)