The Hindu : Sport / Football : Real fights back to put pressure on Barca

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 22, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Football

Real fights back to put pressure on Barca

MADRID: Real Madrid secured its ninth straight victory after coming from behind to beat Sporting Gijon 3-1 on Saturday to open up a three-point gap on bitter rival Barcelona at the top of the Spanish La Liga football.

The home side was the better team in the first half but lacked the killer touch in front of goal with Gonzalo Higuain missing two excellent chances. After the break, Sporting went ahead against the run of play through David Barral, but the goal injected some much-needed urgency into Real.

Just a minute later, Rafael van der Vaart brought Real level, although replays suggest he controlled the ball with his hand, and then Xabi Alonso headed it into the lead. Higuain finally got on the scoresheet to finish off the threat from Sporting.

A surprise 2-0 defeat for Deportivo La Coruna against Valladolid allowed Athletic Bilbao to move above it into a Europa League place. The visitor took the game to Deportivo from the start and Nauzet Aleman put Valladolid ahead six minutes before half time.

Deportivo showed little guile or invention in the second half and in injury time Valladolid scored again on the counter-attack through Haris Medunjanin.

Athletic snatched the sixth place despite conceding an equaliser to finish 2-2 with Getafe. It appeared comfortably in control after Pablo Orbaiz had given it the lead but then a cross from Manu del Moral ended up looping into the goal for Getafe.

The impressive Fernando Llorente put Athletic back in front before Pedro Leon grabbed Getafe an important point in its own bid for a place in Europe.

Xerez kept its slim hopes of survival alive after it beat fellow struggler Tenerife 2-1. Goals from Mario Bermejo and Aythami Artiles gave it the victory with Juan Nino scoring a consolation for Tenerife.

Meanwhile in the Italian Serie ‘A' at Milan, Inter Milan left itself vulnerable at the top by drawing 1-1 away to Palermo on Saturday.

Diego Milito put Inter ahead with a penalty, but Edinson Cavani pulled Palermo level before half-time. Inter has won just one of its last six league games, although it eliminated Chelsea from the Champions League in midweek with a 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge. Inter leads with 60 points.

AS Roma is third with 56 points after beating Udinese 4-2 with Mirko Vucinic scoring a hat-trick. Luca Toni gave Roma the lead and Vucinic added a second before Antonio Di Natale pulled a goal back with a penalty before the break. Di Natale scored his second to equalise, but two more goals from Vucinic gave Roma the win.

In Palermo, Inter took the lead when Milito scored his 17th goal of the season after Cesare Bovo brought down Lucio. Palermo equalised in the 24th when Fabio Miccoli wrong-footed Inter's defence with a reverse pass and Cavani had time to shoot past Cesar.

After halftime, both sides failed to find much spark in attack and let themselves down with poor final balls after getting into good attacking positions.

Toni opened the scoring for Roma with a low shot from the edge of the area in the 15th and Vucinic then found the net in the 23rd for his first of the match when he finished off a counter-attack.

Udinese pulled a goal back in the 38th from the spot when Di Natale scored his 20th of the season after Matteo Brighi brought down Paolo Sammarco. The striker then equalised in the 61st, reacting quickly after Cristian Zapata mishit a shot.

Vucinic scored his second, from the penalty spot in the 66th, to put Roma back into the lead and then completed his hat-trick in the 82nd.

In Saturday's other match, Fiorentina beat Genoa 3-0.

Saturday's results: Spanish La Liga: Real Madrid 3 (Van der Vaart 55, Xabi Alonso 57, Higuain 68) bt Sporting Gijon 1 (Barral 53); Deportivo La Coruna 0 lost to Valladolid 2 (Aleman 39, Medunjanin 91); Athletic Bilbao 2 (Orbaiz 12, Llorente 78-pen) drew with Getafe 2 (Manu Del Moral 32, Pedro Leon 86); Xerez 2 (Bermejo 7, Aythami 15) bt Tenerife 1 (Nino 49).

Italian Serie ‘A': Fiorentina 3 (Santana 5, Gilardino 73-pen, Babacar 86) bt Genoa 0; AS Roma 4 (Toni 16, Vucinic 23, 66-pen, 82) bt Udinese 2 (Di Natale 38-pen, 61); Palermo 1 (Cavani 24) drew with Inter Milan 1 (Milito 11-pen) . — Agencies

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport