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MADRID. — Champions Atletico Madrid made a sluggish start to the defence of their Spanish La Liga soccer title with a 0-0 draw against Rayo Vallecano while a header from Karim Benzema and a late Cristiano Ronaldo strike helped Real Madrid beat promoted Cordoba 2-0 on Monday night. Mario Mandzukic missed two clear chances in the first half for Atletico, whose Spanish Super Cup victory last Friday over Real appeared to take its toll as the players looked fatigued in the second half. “The team played very well, they could have scored in the first half and later what happened is normal.

We played Tuesday and Friday last week and put in all that effort,” Atletico coach Diego Simeone told a news conference. “We were better in the first half and had three clear chances and Rayo improved in the second half and caused us problems.” — Sky Sports.