La Liga - Valencia thump dreadful Madrid

Eurosport - Sat, 09 May 22:51:00 2009

Real Madrid's Liga title hopes were all but ended when they slumped to a 3-0 defeat to Valencia at La Mestalla.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 La Liga Valencia-Real Madrid frustración en los jugadores del Madrid Foto: EFE - 0

Goals from Juan Manuel Mata, David Silva and Ruben Baraja gave Los Che a comfortable victory against a poor Madrid side who have shipped nine goals in their last two Liga matches.

Valencia dominated the match and could have won by five or six goals while Los Merengues - still smarting from their 6-2 home defeat to Barcelona last weekend - offered nothing going forward and little resistance in defence.

Iker Casillas made a world-class save in the sixth minute when he clawed Baraja's header from behind him after a Joaquin cross, but that was his only positive contribution on a terrible night for the Spain number one.

Within 60 seconds Valencia had another great chance but Casillas blocked Villa's finish and Silva's effort from the rebound was deflected just wide.

They eventually took the lead on 28 minutes thanks to an outstanding one-touch move that involved Silva and Villa and culminated in Mata skipping away from Fabio Cannavaro and drilling a low shot in off Casillas's legs.

Madrid were all over the place. After another counter-attack, Villa almost grabbed a second within a minute but his low drive went inches wide.

Sixty seconds later they were two goals up after a dreadful error by Casillas allowed Silva's near-post effort to squirm into the back of the net.

Casillas looked anything but the best keeper in the world and almost fumbled a Mata shot into the back of the net for a third before half-time, although this time it spun wide for a corner.

There was little change in the second half.

Baraja should have scored but he fired over after a one-two with Villa, who backheeled the ball into the veteran midfielder's path.

He finally got his goal and it was well worth the wait, a sweet left-foot volley from the edge of the box from Pablo Hernandez's lofted pass.

The shot zipped off the turf and nestled into the bottom left corner with the helpless Casillas flying across but unable to get a touch.

Villa spurned a great chance to rub salt into the wounds of Madrid boss Juande Ramos when he delayed uncharacteristically when put through, allowing Christoph Metzelder to block.

Barca, seven points clear with four games left to Real's three, can now win the title if they beat Villarreal at home on Sunday.

Valencia, meanwhile, stay fourth and close the gap on third-placed Sevilla to one point.

Luis Fabiano won a penalty and scored a superb goal to help Sevilla beat Mallorca 3-1 at home.

Sevilla tightened their hold on third place and the last automatic Champions League qualification slot, moving them seven points ahead of fourth-placed Valencia, who host Real Madrid later on Saturday.

Aritz Aduriz had given Mallorca an early lead before Brazil striker Fabiano was brought down for a penalty as he surged into the area.

Frederic Kanoute's dummy sent the keeper the wrong way from the spot, before Fabiano spun away from his marker in midfield and burst away from three defenders to net Sevilla's second on the hour mark.

Jesus Navas jinked in off the right wing to seal the win with a fierce drive into the far top corner.

Athletic Bilbao secured their top-flight future with a 1-0 home win over Real Betis.

Athletic coach Joaquin Caparros's gamble to rest a large number of first-team regulars ahead of Wednesday's Copa del Rey final against Barcelona paid off at San Mames.

Ion Velez sidefooted home a well-worked move after 29 minutes and Athletic's reserve goalkeeper Armando was alert to keep out Betis, who remain just three points above the drop zone.

Reda Maher / Reuters

Comment 8 - 27 of 27

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  1. puta mad re!!!!

    From damnsoldja, on Wed 13 May 2:59PM

  2. ANTIMADRIDISTA!!!!

    From damnsoldja, on Wed 13 May 2:58PM

  3. ANTIMADRIDISTA!!!!

    From damnsoldja, on Wed 13 May 2:58PM

  4. ANTIMADRIDISTA!!!!

    From damnsoldja, on Wed 13 May 2:57PM

  5. Who are real madrid?

    From damnsoldja, on Tue 12 May 3:30PM

  6. alkalimjabby, No body cares about last season last­ season is last season it's in the past it's­ this season that counts!

    From stacey.davis07, on Tue 12 May 11:49AM

  7. to all barca fan where were you on the table by this­ time last year haa it was dreadful no one can forget­ history if we do we ll not celebrate or count our ages­ we are 31 time ahead of you morover you can dig your­ grave as cris is ready to finish you in 5 minutes am­ sure of that ....sunday draw tells it all you can 6­ real but valareal our kids are thrown sand into your­ eye you are a waitng club empty barrel makes the most­ sound and am sure man u will dry your tears

    From Alkali M, on Tue 12 May 11:19AM

  8. i didnt knw this was a history lesson. LOL .. Everytime­ u talk to real madrid fans, they quote history, and­ talk about something that happened before my grand dad­ was born. LOL.. Its about the present, and about the­ future.. NOT ABOUT the past.. Let me ask you­ getachew44.. Were u alive last time Madrid won the CL?­ hahahahahaha I rest my case.

    Let me just remind u of­ the title of this article.. "La Liga - Valencia­ thump dreadful Madrid" Incase u forgot LOOOOL..­ Damn u make me laugh

    From TITUS N, on Sun 10 May 3:54PM
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    madrid are betta then barca bhahaa use all know that i­ dont care if you beat us but i WILL CARE IF U BEAT­ MADRIDS RECORD OF TITLES losers ahhaaha use won now Ok­ but theirs allways a next time

    HALA MADRID

    From masicerko, on Sun 10 May 10:09AM

  10. getachew44, this is NOT about your sorry a*s club Real­ Madrid . Stop being a sore loser . However,you are more­ than welcome to watch Barça take La Liga title today­ and the Copa wednesday . Don't miss the CL final !!

    From Tim, on Sun 10 May 9:15AM

  11. if the president of real so wise...they will BOUGHT­ MORE WORLD DEFENDS PLAYERS rather than attacking­ player...if not they will still loss more in champions­ of spain & the champions league as well,,

    buy a­ good young, strong & tall players for center back­ like vidic(MU) or upson(West Ham) coz it can hold ur­ back for many, many years not old & short player­ like cannavaro...

    From UberSparkle920, on Sun 10 May 7:56AM

  12. Getachew or who whoever, You talk about the penalties­ that were not given to Chelsea but they still should­ have won the game Barca had 10 for over 20 mins and­ chelsea had a bunch of other chances including the away­ leg when Drogba should have scored but didn't just­ like the ones he missed at Stanford bridge. and anyway­ this article has nothing to do with Barca it only­ mentions them, but it's about Valencia and Real­ Mardrid!

    From stacey.davis07, on Sun 10 May 3:51AM

  13. Madrid and chelsea same chit split in to 2 to stink­ more

    From ziads, on Sun 10 May 3:39AM

  14. My team Barca the greatest ever, madrid always have­ history, bull chit, the champion league history you­ talking about was 5 times in the 60's and also done­ by x barca player distifano, stollen as usual by­ madrid, this is the real realmadrid coneded 9 goals in­ 2 matches, what a shame and if you guys go to their­ website you will find their players telling that the­ will fight for the club, these bunch of idiots will­ never win anything this year or in the future as long­ as they have players like this chit and also acaimy­ creating chity players. they can come and see how barca­ creat good players, but to be honest with you guys they­ are experts in steeling players, they can give lessons­ on that field.
    Barca by fifa and others made a­ statement that thet are the best in last 20 years, let­ the jerks sit and cry about the history, we are­ today's people

    From ziads, on Sun 10 May 3:37AM

  15. TITUS u don't need anybody except the ref
    it was 5­ penalties against chelsea
    all were infront of him(the­ ref tom)
    he was either blind or has talks with­ laporta
    anyway if there is no talks with ref to take­ the final, u will surely be smashed by man u
    i think­ valdez is very weak to stop ronaldo without the 3 main­ dif alves, marquiz & abidal

    From getachew44, on Sun 10 May 1:48AM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    the worst thing in life are barca fun
    we as madridista­ hope u win the CL
    do u know y? because it is shame­ that our rival has won it only twice
    and for heart­ attack, i don't think so
    if that was true it means­ u have 40 times heart attack, 31 league + 9 CL
    IF u­ win, that is big IF, u will have 1/3 what we have
    that­ make me relax for at least 3 or 4 decades

    From getachew44, on Sun 10 May 1:34AM

  17. hahah Let the haters HATE if they want.. Barca dont­ need your permission to lift LaLiga, Copa or Champions­ league - We at barcelona, we make our own destiny. We­ won because we deserved it and its good to see that­ Real Madrid have finally given up the chase. LOOOOL..­ 6-2 must have worked its magic

    From TITUS N, on Sun 10 May 1:28AM

  18. anónima

    I only hope you are not a terrorist when you­ talk like that, because in these days, only terroriosts­ burn and kill people who don't follow them. Anyway,­ if you do, I will make sure to pass your infos over to­ the police. Visca el Barca!

    From owen, on Sun 10 May 1:00AM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    be sure im not going to have a heart attack, only i­ hope manchester wins barcelona, by 10-0 or 1-0. if­ barcelona wins, me and my friends will burn all­ barcelona´s people fans who moke us.

    From , on Sun 10 May 12:31AM

  20. anónima

    I can see the serious pain you have by hating­ barca! Well, that pain has grown bigger tonight by your­ team#s defeat and hating barca changes nothing. You­ hope for Man United to win 10-0, although you know it­ is not possible. However, you might be more aching in­ case they beat Man United 3-0. So, be careful not to­ have a heart attack!

    From owen, on Sun 10 May 12:12AM
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