Valdez gave the Alicante-based outfit the lead when he poked home from a free-kick against the run of play after 26 minutes and the Paraguay forward, making his debut for the visitors, silenced the crowd with a superb second on the hour.

Barca attacked ceaselessly in the final half hour, but came up against an inspired Juan Calatayud in the Hercules goal. He produced a string of fines saves to deny Lionel Messi, Pedro and David Villa as the visitors held on.

Jose Mourinho enjoyed a winning home debut as Real Madrid got their Primera Division campaign up and running with a 1-0 victory over Osasuna.

Centre-back Ricardo Carvalho netted the only goal of the game just after half-time to give Madrid the spoils in a match they dominated but struggled to finish off a battling Osasuna side.

The result lifts Madrid onto four points - one above Barca - after Mourinho, who has not lost a home match in eight years during his time at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan, saw his side held goalless at Real Mallorca in their season-opener a fortnight ago.

Valencia continued their 100% start to the season with a 1-0 home win over Racing Santander.

Hedwiges Maduro's header on the stroke of half-time proved enough for Los Che, who downed Malaga 3-1 in their first La Liga match a fortnight ago.

Atletico Madrid survived a nervy finish to claim a deserved 2-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao at Estadio San Mames.

The prolific Diego Forlan set them on their way and Tiago looked to have killed the game off in the 80th minute.

But Fernando Llorente's goal put the encounter back in the balance and the hosts could have pinched a point in the closing stages.