You know the new season is upon us when you see Diego Costa and Sergio Ramos doing battle.
The Uefa Super Cup final took place on Wednesday night with Champions League winners Real Madrid taking on Europa League champions Atletico Madrid at A. Le Coq Arena.
And the game didn’t take long to kick into gear as Atletico’s notorious nuisance, Costa, opened the scoring within a minute of proceedings.
The Atletico centre-forward beat his international compatriot Ramos to an early high ball and wasn’t content to just win the header as he chased his own nod-on to punish some lazy defending.
The 29-year-old managed to beat both Ramos and Raphael Varane in a foot race for the ball and from the most acute of angles, Costa rifled home a shot to open the scoring.
What a start, what a goal!
Costa fires Atletico ahead inside a minute 🔥 pic.twitter.com/8y3SaZFTAX
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) August 15, 2018
The goal, which arrived in the 49th second in Estonia, proved to be the earliest ever in a Uefa Super Cup final.
Costa scored seven goals in 23 appearances after returning to Atletico in January and now facing a full season at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium, the striker will hope to recapture the kind of form that saw him named in both the La Liga and Champions League Team of the Year in the 2013/14 campaign.
0:49 – Diego Costa's goal for Atlético Madrid vs Real Madrid was the quickest ever scored in a UEFA Super Cup final. Quickfire. #SuperCup pic.twitter.com/pMgnfjpR7f
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 15, 2018