AZ Alkmaar picked up their first points in the defence of their Eredivisie crown with a victory over Sparta Rotterdam.
The champions bounced back from their 3-2 defeat to Heracles Almelo in their opening fixture thanks to goals early in each half from Moussa Dembele and Mounir El Hamdaoui.
Sparta, though, have lost two out of two without scoring and look to have a tough season ahead.
AZ might have gone ahead in the fifth minute when El Hamdaoui cut in from the right and fired in a shot which Sparta keeper Aleksander Seliga pushed around the post for a corner.
The hosts had just one more minute to wait, though, as El Hamdaoui again made his presence felt.
The Morocco international picked the ball up on the left-hand side and pulled it back for Dembele to fire into the top left-hand corner from 10 yards out.
For all their promising positions, AZ could not carve out any further chances until two minutes after the break when El Hamdaoui fired off target.
But the 25-year-old did grab the goal his play deserved in the 64th minute, slamming his shot low into the net after the ball had broken kindly to him from Maarten Martens' free-kick.
At 2-0 down Sparta finally began to enjoy some concerted possession, but they lacked creativity up front and a comeback was never on the cards.
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