The Hindu : Sport : Chelsea, Barcelona warm up with wins

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 06, 2006

Sport

Sport

Chelsea, Barcelona warm up with wins

LONDON: Chelsea finished with 10 men in its 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion in the English Premier League on Saturday — Jose Mourinho's 100th game in charge. Didier Drogba and Joe Cole scored for Chelsea and Arjen Robben was sent off for a foul on Jonathan Greening.

Meanwhile, Thierry Henry scored twice and Emmanuel Adebayor and Cesc Fabregas added the others in Arsenal's 4-0 win over Fulham to lift it from seventh to fifth in the standings.

At the Hawthorns, Drogba scored in the 51st minute, with Robben shown the red card by referee Mark Hasley 11 minutes later. Cole made the win sure by scoring in the 74th minute.

Newcastle's 3-1 win over Bolton was its fifth win in six games for caretaker manager Glenn Roeder. Nolberto Solano, Alan Shearer and Shola Ameobi scored for Newcastle.

Milan Baros scored for Aston Villa's first win at home since Christmas. The loss means Portsmouth stays in 19th place. Birmingham is also in relegation danger. Its 1-0 loss to Middlesbrough kept it in 18th place, three points from safety. Everton rallied for a 2-2 draw at West Ham.

Derby victory for Real

In Spain, Antonio Cassano and Julio Baptista scored first-half goals as Real Madrid beat crosstown rival Atletico 2-1 in its first game since club president Florentino Perez resigned.

Madrid cheered new president Fernando Martin, who had complained of the team's attitude since taking charge, with a committed display, which moved it above Valencia into second place.

At the Camp Nou, Barcelona warmed up for Tuesday's Champions League game against Chelsea with a hard-earned win over eighth-place Deportivo. Ronaldinho gave the defending champion a fine start with a trademark goal from a free kick on the edge of the area in the third minute, with Juanma Delgado equalising with a header 12 minutes later.

Deportivo's Jorge Andrade took advantage of poor marking to nod the visitors into the lead in the 28th only for Larsson's 34th-minute header to bring Barcelona level again. Eto'o prodded the winner at the far post in the 61st after Ronaldinho's corner had bounced across the face of goal.

Nedved keeps Juve on top

Pavel Nedved headed in a second-half winner in defending champion Juventus' 1-0 win against Sampdoria 1-0 to stay 10 points clear of second-place AC Milan atop the Serie A.

Nedved, making up for the absence of injured strikers David Trezeguet and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, netted on one of the few scoring chances for the visitors.

At San Siro, striker Filippo Inzaghi scored two and Andriy Shevchenko added another goal between the 77th and 87th minutes. Milan struggled for long periods and was unable to produce clear scoring chances in the first half. Coach Carlo Ancelotti had started several reserve players ahead of Wednesday's crucial Champions League game against Bayern Munich.

Milan improved after fielding Kaka, Andrea Pirlo and Shevchenko in the second half and Empoli's tight defence was breached. The match featured the league's best offence against its worst defence, but Milan struggled more than expected.

The results:

English Premier League: Aston Villa 1 bt Portsmouth 0; Fulham 0 lost to Arsenal 4; Middlesbrough 1 bt Birmingham 0; West Bromwich Albion 1 lost to Chelsea 2; West Ham 2 drew with Everton 2; Newcastle 3 bt Bolton 1; Liverpool 0 drew with Charlton 0.

Spanish Primera Liga: Cadiz 2 bt Espanyol 0; Barcelona 3 bt Deportivo La Coruna 2; Real Madrid 2 bt Atletico Madrid 1; Villarreal 3 bt Alaves 2.

Italian Serie A: Sampdoria 0 lost to Juventus 1; AC Milan 3 bt Empoli 0. — Agencies

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