Sunday 12 October 2014 08:44, UK
David Villa scored 15 minutes into his Melbourne City debut as they opened their A-League season with a 1-1 draw against Sydney FC.
The World Cup winner is playing in Australia for 10 games on loan from sister club New York City, both franchises having been bought by Premier League Manchester City.
City, who were known as Melbourne Heart before their rebranding, had the better of the game but had to come from behind after Corey Gameiro gave Sydney the lead on 55 minutes.
Villa had entered the fray seven minutes before Gameiro's goal and he managed to level the scoring just after the hour when he fired a low shot past home keeper Vedran Janjetovic.
The Melbourne club also gave a debut to former Fulham star Damien Duff, but were without ex-West Brom and Hull midfielder Robert Koren, who has a calf problem.
They passed up a number of decent chances before and after the brief spell of goal action in the second half, with Mate Dugandzic the main culprit.
And City were nearly made to pay in the closing stages when Terry Antonis smashed a 30-yard effort against the crossbar, Max Burgess failed to convert the rebound from close range.
It was Villa's first match since scoring for Spain in a 3-0 rout of Australia as both sides exited the World Cup at the group stage in June.
He will be with Melbourne until the middle of December, when he will have a Christmas break and then link up with New York, where Frank Lampard will be among his team-mates - Lampard is with Manchester City on loan until January.
