La Liga - Round-up: Just four for Eto'o

Eurosport - Sun, 09 Nov 07:33:00 2008

Samuel Eto'o helped Barcelona stay top of the La Liga by scoring four first-half goals as the leaders crushed Valladolid 6-0 at the Nou Camp.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 La Liga Barcelona-Valladolid Samuel Eto'o Eidur Gudjohnsen / Foto: EFE - 0

Barca's eighth straight league win gives them 25 points from 10 games, two ahead of champions Real Madrid in second.

Third-placed Villarreal, with 21 points, are at home to Almeria on Sunday when the rest of the Primera Liga fixtures are played.

Eto'o raced through to beat two defenders and open the scoring for Barca in the 12th minute before doubling their lead on the half-hour with a volley after a wonderful flowing move.

He picked up Lionel Messi's pass to round the keeper for the third in the 42nd and slotted home the fourth two minutes later after the Argentina forward's surging run was blocked and the ball broke free for the Cameroon forward.

Eidur Gudjohnsen netted a delicate chip in the 71st and a sublime passing move ended with Aleksandr Hleb squaring for France's Thierry Henry to stab home the sixth near the end.

Real Madrid 4-3 Malaga

Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain scored all four goals as Real Madrid came back with 10 men to beat promoted Malaga 4-3 at the Bernabeu.

The injury-hit side were under pressure to appease the Bernabeu faithful who had whistled the team during Wednesday's 2-0 Champions League defeat at home to Juventus.

They got off to a bad start when Malaga's Portuguese midfielder Eliseu dribbled off the wing past two defenders. When his pull-back was fired against the post he put away the rebound.

The home team responded quickly with Higuain netting after Francesc Arnau could only parry Marcelo's shot but a low cross from Duda caught Real defender Gabriel Heinze flat-footed in the 18th minute leaving Malaga striker Nabil Baha free to score.

Higuain came to the rescue from the penalty spot after a handball on the edge of the area, but Real were reduced to 10 men when defender Sergio Ramos stepped on Eliseu's chest after a challenge.

Duda was fouled in the area and Apono drilled home a penalty to restore Malaga's advantage, but the lead only lasted a minute until Higuain beat Arnau from well outside the area.

The home crowd came to life and Higuain was bundled over for a penalty on the counter-attack in the 78th which the 20-year-old put away on the rebound, and both sides came close to adding another goal in the frantic closing stages.

Reuters

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  1. Three front man do it for me speed, accuracy and­ finishing touch. Nobody can stop them they can rise to­ the occassion

    From tsholocsweet, on Mon 10 Nov 6:07PM

  2. when Ronaldhino was there people could not see­ eto'o scoring without him, now he's gone the­ same people are saying same @#$% about messi being the­ helper of eto'o. Why can't people accept the­ fact that he is just too gooooooooooooooooooooooood.

    From soubih e, on Mon 10 Nov 5:05AM

  3. Correction DAMIKE. It is 110 goals in 162 games for­ Barca.

    From adrian m, on Mon 10 Nov 4:34AM

  4. Eto.o toping the league again,is this not great?13­ Goallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll­ llllllllllllls

    From bob d, on Mon 10 Nov 2:53AM

  5. Eto,O is a hidden Hero like Obama,he is coming up­ slowly but surely.....southafrica 2010 is your­ victory.may God Bless you..

    From bob d, on Mon 10 Nov 2:44AM
  6. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    with all due respect, Eto'o wouldnt score any goal­ without messi by his side.....I would say in the­ current barca team messi is the best, followed by­ alves, iniesta, xavi and the rest!

    From the fundamental, on Mon 10 Nov 1:14AM

  7. Real Madrid: prepare to be afraid on December 14th.­ Barça WILL kick your butts and embarrass you to no end­ !!

    From Tim, on Mon 10 Nov 12:09AM

  8. I'm a Barça fan and I think this year VICTORY WILL­ BE MINE !!

    From Tim, on Sun 9 Nov 10:25PM

  9. GIVE THE GOLDEN BALL TO MESSI!!! ONLY HE DESERVE IT!!!­
    Not Ronaldo, not Tores, not Valdes, not Arshavin...­ ONLY MESSI!!!

    DICHOSO BARCELONA!!!

    From Bobby-Fisher, on Sun 9 Nov 7:21PM

  10. Fc Barcelona is second to none as of the present­ momentoius epoch. the lightening play and fast passes­ by all the team mates triggers the imagination of all­ soccer fans accross the world.mesi the joker with every­ frantic touch you sense danger. Xavi probably the best­ midfielder in the world The Lengendary henry relies on­ past glory but the experience and contributions fro the­ team can not be underestimated. The likes of Iniesta­ Abidal alvers and maquez are superb. puyold the­ buldozer. probably he drugs, he is not a human being he­ is a machine. samuel eto o well a wonder why Pep­ guadiola wanted to get rid of him.the politics of­ soccer is so complex. We are talking about the best­ striker in the world.has scored 98 goals out of 189­ matches played for Barca. the finisher eto o A reoplica­ of the Jungle Lion Indomitable Lion.I wonder if Samuel­ eto o plays all the remaining league matches the number­ of goals he gonna score. As of now !3 goals on the 10­ th day of play. He is so magnificient.

    From Damike, on Sun 9 Nov 6:53PM

  11. Fc Barcelona is second to none as of the present­ momentoius epoch. the lightening play and fast passes­ by all the team mates triggers the imagination of all­ soccer fans accross the world.mesi the joker with every­ frantic touch you sense danger. Xavi probably the best­ midfielder in the world The Lengendary henry relies on­ past glory but the experience and contributions fro the­ team can not be underestimated. The likes of Iniesta­ Abidal alvers and maquez are superb. puyold the­ buldozer. probably he drugs, he is not a human being he­ is a machine. samuel eto o well a wonder why Pep­ guadiola wanted to get rid of him.the politics of­ soccer is so complex. We are talking about the best­ striker in the world.has scored 98 goals out of 189­ matches played for Barca. the finisher eto o A reoplica­ of the Jungle Lion Indomitable Lion.I wonder if Samuel­ eto o plays all the remaining league matches the number­ of goals he gonna score. As of now !3 goals on the 10­ th day of play. He is so magnificient.

    From Damike, on Sun 9 Nov 6:51PM

  12. barca barca barca barca barca that's what i'll­ say all the day

    From Panayiotis, on Sun 9 Nov 6:07PM

  13. If Messi did not play,can Ettoo­ score????????????????????

    From saber, on Sun 9 Nov 5:49PM

  14. It was too hard to wait the hidden talents of the duo­ Eto'o-Messi..
    What a magnificent play? Without much­ ado, Let the voice of the lion be heard by all who­ thought he has diminished and worth to be sold.. One­ word, "Continue".. Your reward is not far­ from now. You remain the best striker the world has­ produced.

    From francis, on Sun 9 Nov 5:48PM

  15. It was too hard to wait the hidden talents of the duo­ Eto'o-Messi..
    What a magnificent play? Without much­ ado, Let the voice of the lion be heard by all who­ thought he has diminished and worth to be sold.. One­ word, "Continue".. Your reward is not far­ from now. You remain the best striker the world has­ produced.

    From francis, on Sun 9 Nov 5:42PM

  16. Just fabulous....The lion of Barca has stroke again...­ Eto'o is just the best!

    From Massa George, on Sun 9 Nov 4:43PM

  17. barca for life.in the whole of europe i v never seen a­ team that plays like barca.they r fantastic.i choose­ messi as the world footballer cos he can always create­ the chances.he is skillful and as determined as­ eto'o.

    From teslim o, on Sun 9 Nov 3:35PM

  18. How on earth manager came to a decision to sell Eto. I­ am sure he is feeling bit donkey now.

    From babara, on Sun 9 Nov 3:31PM

  19. Excellent Boys just hope you guys gonna continue with­ that spirit.I just like the rotating team spirit of­ Barca.Eto,o you did it so well this time again and you­ made the difference clear between you and David Villa

    From lawrence, on Sun 9 Nov 3:10PM

  20. just seen the highlights and barca were outstanding­ especially etoo and messi. but real also r winning even­ if they r playin poorly n gettin lucky decisions. i­ just hope barca dont get major injuries in dis upcoming­ international fixtures coz they are the team to beat in­ europe right now.

    From habeeb a, on Sun 9 Nov 11:45AM
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