La Liga - Barca trounce Real in 'Clasico' classic

Eurosport - Sun, 03 May 09:16:00 2009

Barcelona took a major step towards securing La Liga after beating Real Madrid 6-2 in an astonishing edition of the fixture known as 'El Clasico' at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Thierry Henry celebrates scoring for Barcelona against Real Madrid. Lionel Messi is on his back. - 0

Barca are now seven points clear of defending champions Real with four games of the season remaining after braces from Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi plus goals from Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique rendered strikes for Real from Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Ramos irrelevant.

The statistics of Barca's season are astounding: Pique's goal - Barca's sixth - was their 100th in La Liga this season, and between them Samuel Eto'o, Messi and Henry have scored more goals than the entire squads of any side - excluding only Real - in England, Italy, Germany or Spain.

The reverse fixture back in December - a 2-0 Barcelona victory at the Nou Camp - was Juande Ramos's first match in charge of Real Madrid, and following that match they embarked on an incredible run of 17 wins and one draw from 18 games.

Real took the lead after a high-tempo first quarter of an hour when Sergio Ramos curled his cross around Eric Abidal to Gonzalo Higuain, who was left completely unmarked by Carles Puyol in the centre of the penalty area, to head in his 19th league goal of the season.

That lead lasted only a few minutes until Messi found Henry and the Frenchman tucked a neat side-footed finish into the net to make it 1-1.

Puyol made amends for his earlier mistake and turned the game on its head just two minutes later. Fabio Cannavaro had desperately hauled down Henry on the left wing near the byline, and Xavi's free-kick was met by a firm header from the Barca captain to give his side the lead. Ironically, it was Higuain who should have been on hand to stop Puyol from that set piece.

Lassana Diarra was caught dithering in possession, and Xavi robbed him before setting up Messi, who clipped the ball past Iker Casillas with the outside of his boot to send Barca 3-1 up at half-time.

After the break, Real looked as though they could have mounted one of their trademark fight backs when Arjen Robben's free-kick was headed in by Sergio Ramos, but the Spain right-back undid his good work two minutes later when he was too late in springing the offside trap on Henry, who went on to knock the ball past Casillas and see it roll into the empty net and make it restore the two-goal gap.

Henry, a doubt before the match, was substituted soon afterwards, and is not certain to be fit to face Chelsea in Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg.

With 15 minutes left Messi got his second of the night and 23rd league goal of the season when he beat Casillas from close range before former Manchester United centre-back Pique capped an impressive display at the back with his first goal in La Liga from inside the six-yard box.

Villarreal 0-2 Sevilla

Sevilla tightened their grip on third place in the table with a 2-0 win over fifth-placed Villarreal at El Madrgial.

Luis Fabiano opened the scoring in the second half after strike partner Fredi Kanoute find him with a through ball, and the Brazilian slotted coolly underneath goalkeeper Diego Lopez to give the visitors the lead.

Despite going down to 10 men when right-back Abdoulaye Konko was sent off for a second bookable offence, Sevilla doubled their lead when Kanoute got a goal of his own with a clinical drilled shot from distance that went in off the far post.

The result leaves Manolo Jimenez's side four points above fourth-placed Valencia, who travel to Espanyol on Sunday. Villarreal could drop down to sixth if Atletico Madrid win their match at Athletic Bilbao.

Numancia 2-0 Malaga

Numanica moved off the bottom of the table with a home win over Europa League hopefuls Malaga.

Midfielder Juan Carlos Moreno struck in first minute for the struggling side, who now move above Recreativo Huelva into 19th place.

Striker Javier del Pino doubled the home side's lead in second-half to help deny Malaga a point that would have seen them at least temporarily leapfrog Atletico Madrid into fifth.

Malaga could drop as low as eighth by the end of the weekend if Deportivo la Coruna win at home against Valladolid tomorrow, while Recre could move back off the bottom of the league with a victory at Osasuna.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport

Comment 123 - 142 of 182

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  1. LOL.. LiverPOO did not beat Madrid 6-2 at the­ Bernabeu/// dont get it twisted. Th efact remains..­ Barca is unstopable.. and dont let words fool you.. we­ barcelona Fc like to speak with action.. 'cos­ Action speaks louder than words.. some idi0ts on this­ site say that barca's defense has not been tested..­ Chelsea, real, Valencia, Lyon, Bayern, ,(to name but a­ few) - This concludes the fact that all the above­ mentioned teams are RUbbish right?

    From TITUS N, on Sun 3 May 11:56AM

  2. ""Barcelona is simply the best team in past­ 10­ years,""

    They looked ordinary and even­ clueless at times against Chelsea.......a team who­ actually knew how to defend, unlike most La Liga cannon­ fodder who can't defend if their lives depended on­ in.

    Liverpool thrashed Real Madrid as well don't­ forget.

    From Kim S, on Sun 3 May 11:31AM

  3. Barcelona is simply the best team in past 10­ years,players of Real Madrid looked like kids,they­ couldn't see the ball.I'm sorry,Barca is yust­ too strong at the moment for any team in the­ world,Chelsea is our next target.

    From medenicanovica, on Sun 3 May 11:07AM

  4. i love madrid they r still my soul they r the team of­ century too. & i don't hate barca, yesterday­ they force me to respect them more but i hate all­ english teams.
    english teams & fans r so arrogant­ & stupied, they think liverpool beat real with­ english team in fact there was only gerard english but­ there were 5 spanish player in starting 11 including­ the couch rafa

    From getachew44, on Sun 3 May 11:01AM

  5. What a message to Chelsea !!

    From MillionG, on Sun 3 May 11:01AM

  6. i love madrid they r still my soul they r the team of­ century too. & i don't hate barca, yesterday­ they force me to respect them more but i hate all­ english teams.
    english teams & fans r so arrogant­ & stupied, they think liverpool beat real with­ english team in fact there was only gerard english but­ there were 5 spanish player in starting 11 including­ the couch rafa

    From getachew44, on Sun 3 May 11:01AM

  7. Sorry for Real player but this year you are no match­ with free-scoring Barcelona

    From Solleh, on Sun 3 May 10:51AM

  8. real madrid are'n exactly a great team i think if­ you look at the squad of players they have not mny of­ them would even make it in top epl teams squad let­ alone first 11, Barcelona can easily be neutralized if­ the opposition is organized, simple as that! Real are­ probably have one of the worst defenses behind­ newscastle.

    From jackel, on Sun 3 May 10:43AM

  9. wE ARE THE BEST
    UP BARCA
    EFEMENA

    From veronica, on Sun 3 May 10:40AM

  10. Football is like war in the battle field where you­ study your enemy and contain it to dealt a devastating­ blow. Despite barca fluency,the BLUE will shoot them­ down on wednesday because tactically we are containing­ them.

    From cynthadel, on Sun 3 May 10:39AM

  11. It is almost all over for Franco boys now !!

    From Tim, on Sun 3 May 10:39AM

  12. La liga is a better league than the premier league! The­ average Spanish player has much more talent and ability­ than the average Brit. Just watch young kids play in­ Spain and the UK then tell me im wrong.

    From Jamie, on Sun 3 May 10:33AM

  13. If the Premier league is so superior to La Liga,then­ why did Chelski play against Barca with 11­ defenders?Why did they not attack?Why did they only­ have 30% possession?Furthermore,last year Man Utd had­ to fight tooth and nail to just pip a far­ weaker(compared to this year i mean)Barca.And by the­ way where was the English national side during the Euro­ 2008?Oh yes they were watching from their TVs Spain­ winning it.Enough with this Premier League story.

    From stavros h, on Sun 3 May 10:13AM

  14. To all the Madridistas out there : VICTORY IS OURS !!

    From Tim, on Sun 3 May 10:07AM

  15. TriVia Question.. What does it take for barca to go 3-1­ UP at the S.Bernabeu? (ANSWER= 45mins) hahahahahaa.­ Madrid.. eat @#$%

    From TITUS N, on Sun 3 May 9:50AM

  16. comment 119. if spanish teams are so bad why sevilla­ won the uefa cup 2 in a row and why english teams which­ are so good as u say have not made it in the semis???­ answer that

    From Varnavas P, on Sun 3 May 9:46AM

  17. comment 126 getachew44, for the first time, this guy­ (getachew44) makes sense.. LOL.. Thanks.

    From TITUS N, on Sun 3 May 9:31AM

  18. Lets get one thing Certain.. Barca did not butcher­ R.Madrid because Madrid is @#$%.. Barca is just TOO­ goood. hahahahaha.. We are soo good we make R.Madrid­ look like a bunch of Muppets. anyways, Its not that i­ hate Madrid or chelsea, i just Love barca too much.. :)­ Barca will vapourise any team that stands in its way..­ Chelsea, YOU ARE NEXT

    From TITUS N, on Sun 3 May 9:28AM

  19. WATCHING BARCA PLAY WAS LIKE WATCHING MY WIIFE­ COOK.ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS.NOW BARCA ,DO UNTO CHELSEA­ WHAT THOU JUST DID TO REAL....

    From theophilus e, on Sun 3 May 9:23AM

  20. those of u who say spanish league is joke, u don't­ know football well
    in 2000 & 2002 there were 3­ spanish in sime final of cl
    if we add the big 4 of­ english side liverpool + chelsea + man u + arsenal = 8­ cl while r madrid have won 9 times
    actualy in europ we­ kno only 2 english teams man u & l.pool
    i­ haven't heard about others at least sivilla and­ valencia had won the uefa
    by the way ronaldo is 1st­ player from EPL to win fifa player of the year while we­ have see 10 time la liga player to win it since it­ start in 1991 zidane figo rivaldo ronaldo(3) romario­ canavaro ronaldinho(2)

    From getachew44, on Sun 3 May 9:22AM
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