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 103 - 122 of 182

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  1. You People make me Laugh.. If Barca Defence was so bad,­ how come they have conceded the fewest goals in LaLiga?­ V.Valdes will win the Zamora, to prove to you that we­ have the WORST defence. LOOOOL.. Thanks for being suchh­ Jerks.. You make me Laugh, thats entertaining.

    (And by­ the ways.. some idi0ts mentioned how tough chelsea­ defence is, and how (aparently) bad barca defense is...­ let me ask u a uestion.. if our defence was that bad,­ how come chelsea didnt score? ) I dont knw if you­ chelse/madrid fans are blind, or just retarded. The­ fact remains.. NO TEAM IN THE WORLD will want to stand­ face-to-face with barca right now.. and anything that­ stands in our way, will get demolished.. Ask Sevilla,­ Bayern, Lyon, and R.Madrid for refferences.

    BARCA 4­ LIFE

    From TITUS N, on Sun 3 May 9:15AM

  2. I cant belive the scoreline 6-2! Either Barca are­ phenomonal or real madrid are terrible.Barca's­ qualitiy is very good and I think it up to the high­ standards of the wonderful English premier league

    From zamira, on Sun 3 May 9:09AM

  3. Rofl@121...

    More like, Spanish league is almost a­ joke, having THE best team in the world at the moment,­ a 4-5 of mediocre teams. You fail. Barca W/e­ you're supporting in the PL.

    /Arse-nal fan

    From adada, on Sun 3 May 8:56AM
  4. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Spanish league is a f*cking joke, 1 mediocre­ team(barca) and the rest are @#$%

    From rafascrackingup, on Sun 3 May 8:29AM

  5. chelsea vs barca we all know hu's going to win­ (barca) its obvious if barca play half as well as they­ did in the last leg but actually score when they shoot­ it will be like 4-0

    From Waqas A, on Sun 3 May 8:17AM
  6. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    They won because there are no good teams in Spain. One­ eyed man is the country of blinds will surely be their­ king. When Bacar come to Stamford Bridge they will see­ pepper and they will know that UCL is not for kids.­ Messi will be messed up and Henry will become hen­ (chiken) while Eto will just be toilling behind. ­ Iniesta will be in for real exciting football that­ Puyol will surely pull back and watch.

    From Gee, on Sun 3 May 8:11AM
  7. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    but they are not so brilliant v/s quality opposition!­ england is an all round football nation. in spain, too­ much emphasis is put on technique. barca were­ innefective v/s chelsea. lfc beat real comprehensively.­ barca in epl wnt win it. the likes of afc, cfc, man u,­ lfc, spurs will be too strong for them of course its my­ view.

    From Sharma, on Sun 3 May 8:10AM

  8. Fist of all lets see english sides actuslly come out­ and play some attacking football. After watching Barca­ slaughter a Real Madrid side who quite frankly have the­ worst defence ever for a top side , Chelsea will leave­ them selfs exposed when they push forward for goals­ like Real did and Barca will punish them even with out­ talisman Rafa Maquiez whom they didnt have againts­ Real. Sure any team will struggle when another team­ plays with a 8man defence like Chelsea did againts­ Barca a week ago. Barca WILL score goals againts­ Chelsea as Chelsea will have to get a goal and push­ foward.

    From ninja_king_returns, on Sun 3 May 8:09AM

  9. 100 goals in the­ league!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From jingweiliu1, on Sun 3 May 7:46AM
  10. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Why wasn't Jesus born in Catalonia?
    Because God­ couldn't find three wise men and a virgin

    From tyson82003, on Sun 3 May 7:39AM

  11. What a performance by barca!! Its a warning signal 2­ chelski... BEWARE!!! Here come the masters...

    From dhruvrastogi_rooney, on Sun 3 May 7:27AM

  12. carlos c, Man utd fans always talk trash, it`s nothing­ new !!!!!!!!!!!!

    From Bike 69, mabaho ka !, on Sun 3 May 7:26AM

  13. These barca guys need only two medications. First dose­ was manutd, then second dose is chelsea. Finished.

    From Majoser, on Sun 3 May 7:24AM

  14. Why are Man Untd Fans talking trash which has nothing­ to do with them in the 1st place........and as a Barca­ side can't wait for wednesday Chelsea is the next­ team to get humiliated .............

    From carlos c, on Sun 3 May 7:09AM
  15. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    you will sooo shocked on wed barca,soo shocked your gay­ coach will whine over it for the rest of his life.for­ what they did to spanish liga yesterday,i move the­ motion that real be disbanded immediately.blues till i­ die.

    From onyeka j, on Sun 3 May 7:03AM

  16. Oabdulgani, EPL is the most expensive league, but hey,­ it is non-sense to equate la Liga with the Scottish­ league. Barca will go through either through victory or­ through a draw with a better away goal record. Barca­ did not win because Real was weak. The way Real played­ yesterday, they would have kicked any English team on­ the day. Have you watched the game? Barca's­ football and passing was breath-taking. Piece of art!­ And that included defense. Yes, they conceded two­ goals, but for the rest of the match, they defended­ very very well.

    From Funny, on Sun 3 May 6:12AM

  17. You guys are not comparing like with like here....­ They've just beaten a pretty useless Real side­ that, if memory serves, got whooped by an English side­ recently.... Barca will have confidence now going into­ the Chelsea game but that's a different proposition­ altogether.

    I think we can all agree Barca have the­ best attackers in the world but their defensive has­ been shown to be a serious weak spot at this stage of­ the CL (when it really matters) against the other­ teams, who by virtue of their reaching the same point­ of the competition, are of a similar quality to Barca -­ teams far better than the current Real Madrid team.

    If­ you think about it, Barca's prolific record in La­ Liga is utterly irrelevant in the CL. What is relevant­ here is their recent record in, say, the last 3 or 4­ years (during which time the squads won't have­ changed too much) in match-ups with English opponents­ and also indirectly through the record of non-Spanish­ sides (primarily English at the moment) against the­ Spanish teams Barca are up against week-in-week-out in­ their own league where they are so­ impressive.

    However, it's all relative so­ appearances can be deceptive. Truth is the Spanish­ league, at present, is an inferior league to the EPL.­ This has a lot to do with economics: there is more­ money, and hence better players throughout the EPL.­ With an abundance of quality players, logic dictates­ that the teams there will be better. It is therefore­ facile to compare the English teams' domestic­ records against that of Barcelona.

    I like to see Barca­ do well but they can't quite match the grit of the­ English sides at the moment. If they had Chelsea or­ United's defense to go with all that flair they­ have in abundance up front they would probably be­ invincible.... but unfortunately for Barca fans they­ don't.

    Good luck on Tuesday. Hopefully we meet in­ the final so we can play an open attacking game and see­ which team really is best!

    Mark (Manchest

    From mdkeane, on Sun 3 May 4:44AM

  18. barca_nr_1 its Manchester.Hope I helped you with that.

    From saeed, on Sun 3 May 4:31AM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    For all you ManSHITster fagssssssssss, let's clear­ something out. Barca too won the double in 2006, and­ they ended up dominating their opponents in Champions­ League and La Liga, unlike ManSHITster, who hardly won­ CL against chelsea in penalties, and hardly won­ PremierSHIT on the last game. So don't go talking­ trash about Barca. And for you that say Barcas defence­ is bad, check the records, because Barca has conceded­ 12 goals in CL and scoring 29 goals, ManSHITster has­ conceded 5 goals, but only scored 15, and Chelsea, they­ conceded 12 goals, just as much as Barca, but only­ scored 19. So the facts show that Barca has conceded­ just as much as Chlsea, but has scored almost double of­ what chelsea and manSHITster has score, so quit talking­ about Barcas defence, because they have an attacking­ that makes up for everything. Henry Eto'o Messi,­ have scored 69 goals in La Liga, and 90 goals total in­ all competitions, More than manSHITster and chelsea as­ a­ team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!For all you ManSHITster­ fagssssssssss, let's clear something out. Barca too­ won the double in 2006, and they ended up dominating­ their opponents in Champions League and La Liga, unlike­ ManSHITster, who hardly won CL against chelsea in­ penalties, and hardly won PremierSHIT on the last game.­ So don't go talking trash about Barca. And for you­ that say Barcas defence is bad, check the records,­ because Barca has conceded 12 goals in CL and scoring­ 29 goals, ManSHITster has conceded 5 goals, but only­ scored 15, and Chelsea, they conceded 12 goals, just as­ much as Barca, but only scored 19. So the facts show­ that Barca has conceded just as much as Chlsea, but has­ scored almost double of what chelsea and manSHITster­ has score, so quit talking about Barcas defence,­ because they have an attacking that makes up for­ everythin

    From barca_nr_1, on Sun 3 May 3:57AM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    For all you ManSHITster fagssssssssss, let's clear­ something out. Barca too won the double in 2006, and­ they ended up dominating their opponents in Champions­ League and La Liga, unlike ManSHITster, who hardly won­ CL against chelsea in penalties, and hardly won­ PremierSHIT on the last game. So don't go talking­ trash about Barca. And for you that say Barcas defence­ is bad, check the records, because Barca has conceded­ 12 goals in CL and scoring 29 goals, ManSHITster has­ conceded 5 goals, but only scored 15, and Chelsea, they­ conceded 12 goals, just as much as Barca, but only­ scored 19. So the facts show that Barca has conceded­ just as much as Chlsea, but has scored almost double of­ what chelsea and manSHITster has score, so quit talking­ about Barcas defence, because they have an attacking­ that makes up for everything. Henry Eto'o Messi,­ have scored 69 goals in La Liga, and 90 goals total in­ all competitions, More than manSHITster and chelsea as­ a­ team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!For all you ManSHITster­ fagssssssssss, let's clear something out. Barca too­ won the double in 2006, and they ended up dominating­ their opponents in Champions League and La Liga, unlike­ ManSHITster, who hardly won CL against chelsea in­ penalties, and hardly won PremierSHIT on the last game.­ So don't go talking trash about Barca. And for you­ that say Barcas defence is bad, check the records,­ because Barca has conceded 12 goals in CL and scoring­ 29 goals, ManSHITster has conceded 5 goals, but only­ scored 15, and Chelsea, they conceded 12 goals, just as­ much as Barca, but only scored 19. So the facts show­ that Barca has conceded just as much as Chlsea, but has­ scored almost double of what chelsea and manSHITster­ has score, so quit talking about Barcas defence,­ because they have an attacking that makes up for­ everythin

    From barca_nr_1, on Sun 3 May 3:55AM
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