The young midfielder, making his league debut for Real, got his head to an outswinging David Beckham corner four minutes from time to cancel out a spectacular strike by Villarreal substitute Sonny Anderson.

The goal of the night, though, came from Barcelona's Ronaldinho who scored with a brilliant solo effort to earn his side a 1-1 draw against Sevilla on his home debut in the late, late match at the Nou Camp.

The Brazilian forward skipped his way past two Sevilla defenders before letting rip with an unstoppable shot from the edge of the area early in the second half to cancel out striker Jose Antonio Reyes's 10th-minute penalty for the visitors.

England captain Beckham, who scored after just three minutes of his home league debut on Saturday, made a less spectacular start for Real this time out, but gradually found his range from set pieces, nearly grabbing the winner with two dipping free kicks at the death.

The midfielder suffered a minor groin injury during the match but told reporters he expects to be fit for England's Euro 2004 qualifier against Macedonia on Saturday.

Beckham was also caught up in a security scare after being manhandled by a crazy fan.

Becks looked stunned as a supporter raced on to the pitch at the end, put an arm around him and tried to take a picture with a camera.

The spectator was dragged away by stewards along with another man who tried to reach the England skipper.

A Villarreal spokesman said: "The man was arrested and his details taken.

"He put his arm around David Beckham and tried to take a photo.

"There were two supporters on the pitch at the time.

"One was stopped without getting at any of the players, the other managed to get to Beckham but was apprehended immediately."

Both men were later released.

In Tuesday's other matches, last season's runners-up Real Sociedad were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Celta Vigo and have yet to record a victory this term.

Serbian striker Darko Kovacevic put Sociedad in front with a 37th-minute header after former Celta midfielder Valery Karpin had dinked in a cross from the right, but the Galician side levelled the match when Savo Milosevic struck with a sharp volley midway through the second half.

Valencia were the only winners of the night after they claimed a 1-0 win over Osasuna, thanks to another headed goal, this time from midfielder Ruben Baraja early in the second half of a tight match at El Sadar.

Tuesday's results mean that Real, Barca, Sevilla and Valencia are all tied on four points at the top of the table, but they could be overtaken by Racing Santander and Deportivo Coruna who play their matches on Wednesday.

With Brazilians Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos and Argentine midfielder Esteban Cambiasso on international duty Real Madrid fielded a much-changed line-up including several new faces at the Madrigal stadium.

Three former reserve-team players started in an inexperienced defence, centre back Ivan Helguera was pushed into midfield to replace the departed Claude Makelele and young striker Javier Portillo played up front alongside Raul.

Villarreal dominated the early exchanges as new signing Juan Roman Riquelme ran the show in midfield but they failed to take full advantage, former Atletico Madrid striker Jose Mari spurning several good chances.

Real suffered a serious setback when French playmaker Zinedine Zidane was forced off through injury just before the half hour, but Villarreal will be regretting they did not make more of their domination.

Real improved at the start of the second half, with defenders Francisco Pavon and Michel Salgado providing the major threat to the Villarreal goal.

Pavon hit the post with a header after a Beckham corner and Salgado volleyed against the bar after racing on to a neat pass from Luis Figo.

But it was Villarreal who took the lead when Anderson scored with a stunning first-time volley after racing on to a perfect through ball from Riquelme.

The celebrations were short lived, though, as Nunez had the final say with a well directed header four minutes from time.