Gareth Bale made it five goals in four trips to San Sebastian as his early goal set Real Madrid on the way to a comfortable 3-0 victory away to Real Sociedad.
The Wales forward headed home with just over a minute gone and the second arrived in the 40th minute when young midfielder Marco Asensio applied a composed finish to a long ball forward.
Bale book-ended the night with virtually the last kick of the game as he took the ball around Geronimo Rulli to score a third.
Zinedine Zidane had a number of first-team regulars missing for Real's opening La Liga match, with superstar forward Cristiano Ronaldo still not fully recovered from the knee ligament injury he suffered playing for Portugal in the Euro 2016 final.
Atletico Madrid dropped two points in extraordinary fashion after conceding a stoppage-time equaliser to Alaves in a 1-1 draw having only gone in front two minutes earlier.
Coach Diego Simeone had seen Atletico's principal La Liga title rivals Barcelona and Real win their opening games and it seemed they had finally made the breakthrough when debutant Kevin Gameiro, who had wasted earlier chances, converted from the spot after a penalty was controversially awarded for a foul on Fernando Torres.
Incredibly though, Alaves conjured a leveller when Manu drilled a sweet 25-yard shot beyond Jan Oblak, who had barely had a save to make in a match Atletico dominated.
Sporting Gijon scored twice in the space of three minutes at the start of the second half to beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1 at El Molinon.
It was a positive start from the hosts, who had narrowly avoided relegation last season.
Duje Cop and Victor Rodriguez struck swiftly after half-time before Borja Viguera netted a late consolation, with the contest overshadowed by racist chanting from a section of the home support.
Midfielder Moi Gomez, a summer signing from Getafe, shot over before Bilbao forward Inaki Williams saw an effort saved -- the latter causing a pause in play as the referee asked for a stadium announcement to be made after Williams was subject to racist chants, with Athletic Bilbao later confirming the incident on their Twitter account.