Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored on his debut Monday as Barcelona began its Spanish league title defense with a 3-0 victory over Sporting Gijon. The Sweden striker dived low in the 82nd minute to head in Daniel Alves' deflected cross to round out the scoring. Earlier, Bojan Krkic and Seydou Keita had also scored from headers at the Camp Nou, where the Catalan club opened its season without star forward Lionel Messi who had traveled to Argentina to prepare for Saturday's crucial World Cup qualifier against Brazil. Keyta flicked on a corner toward the far post in the 17th minute and Krkic headed home to open the scoring. The Mali midfielder then met Alves' swinging cross in the 42nd to beat Juan Pablo with another powerful header. New signing Dmytro Chygrynskiy watched on from the stands after the Catalan club completed the Ukraine defender's $36 million transfer from Shakhtar Donetsk earlier Monday. Maxwell also made his debut alongside former Inter Milan teammate Ibrahimovic, but was replaced by Eric Abidal in the 57th minute with a leg injury. Barcelona paid $95 million and sent leading striker Samuel Eto'o to Inter Milan in order to bring Ibrahimovic to the Camp Nou, and it was certainly a relief to the crowd, the Sweden striker and his teammates when he opened his account. World-record signing Cristiano Ronaldo was also on target with a penalty as Real Madrid began its season with a 3-2 victory over Deportivo La Coruna Saturday. UAE targets women to lift crowds Organizers of the FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates hope that more designated women-only areas in stadiums will boost attendance at the continental champions' tournament. “We are making extra efforts to attract the local women to attend the matches,” Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Mahmood, secretary general of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC), told Reuters in an interview. “We experienced from local matches that there is this interest from the ladies but we also have to look at the traditional aspects.” Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, is hosting the Dec. 9-19 tournament, which will pit continental champions against each other, including FC Barcelona and local team Al Ahli. The Gulf states in recent years have upped efforts to attract international sport events and have bought into major soccer clubs. Organizers have introduced family packages and tickets for as little as 10 dirhams ($2.72) to attract as many fans as possible, and boost the region's credentials as a potential host for bigger global events in future. “Could this lead to other things?” said Chuck Blazer, member of the FIFA Executive Committee. “Obviously it is ... that point of its resume that it presents in future events by demonstrating that it will have successfully carried out a previous event.” Earlier this year, Dubai said it was studying a possible bid for the 2020 Olympics.
