La Liga - Real win to keep pressure on Barca

Eurosport - Sat, 28 Feb 22:53:00 2009

Real Madrid scored two late goals to beat a spirited Espanyol side in La Liga, while Sevilla came from behind to beat Athletic Bilbao.

FOOTBALL Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra in the victory against Espanyol - 0

Espanyol 0-2 Real Madrid

A stunning free kick from Guti and a clinical finish from Raul gave Real Madrid a critical win at Espanyol to keep up the pressure on Barcelona.

Real close the gap on Barca to just four points, with La Liga's top club facing a tough Sunday match against Atletico Madrid.

Espanyol made it far from easy for Real, however, playing superb football that defied their lowly league position and made them look the team most likely to break the deadlock during a goalless first hour.

Right from the whistle it was the home side that looked the more accomplished, with Fernandez Luis Garcia whipping in a brilliant free kick after just six minutes that drew a superb reaction save from Iker Casillas.

The home side continued to press, and came incredibly close to scoring as a penalty box scramble offered chances to both Daniel Alonso and Ivan de la Pena. Neither could find the target, however, with Alonso's fresh-air swish at the ball being the most agonising miss.

The second half saw an increasingly desperate Real side trying to force positions, but the Espanyol defence seemed simply too solid to let anything through.

Predictably, perhaps, it was from a dead-ball that the visitors made the breakthrough. A free-kick won 30 yards out and in the centre of the pitch always looked to be in a dangerous position, and Guti's stunning strike was genuinely unstoppable: indeed, Carlos Kameni got a hand to it but still could not prevent it ricocheting in off both the cross-bar and post.

Just five minutes later Real doubled their lead, Marcelo's jinking run to the left corner of the box culminating in a lovely pass straight in to the path of the charging Raul, who buried his finish low and hard in to the bottom left-hand corner.

It was a tough blow for Espanyol, who played far better than a 2-0 scoreline suggested; but once they had ceded the advantage to Real the visitors squeezed the life out of their hosts and played out a solid - and potentially crucial - victory.

Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Sevilla

Frederic Kanoute scored a stylish double to help third-placed Sevilla come from behind and earn a 2-1 away victory over Athletic Bilbao in La Liga.

Sevilla enjoyed more possession in the opening stages but it was the home side who struck on 26 minutes: the visitors' keeper Andres Palop got a hand to Igor Gabilondo's low shot, but the ball squirmed over the line into the bottom corner.

The Andalusian side continued to push their hosts, however, and Kanoute produced a sublime piece of control to create the equaliser five minutes before the break. The Mali international took the ball down in the penalty area, shrugged off a defender and slammed the ball past Armando.

He twice went close before grabbing the winner just before the hour when he picked up a Ndri Romaric pass and drove the ball into the bottom left corner.

Sevilla return to the San Mames on Wednesday to play Athletic in their Copa del Rey semi-final second leg, where they will defend a 2-1 first leg advantage.

Toby Keel + Reuters / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 18 of 18

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  1. REAL MADRID ARE GOING TO WIN THE LA LIGA

    From sonyericsson792, on Tue 3 Mar 8:56PM

  2. hi to all realmadrid fans,Juande Ramos made wrong­ decision by picking Diarra instead of Huntelaar,They­ should have choose Huntelaar in front with Raul and­ left and right wing should be Higuan and­ Robben.....They need attacking midfield when they play­ 2nd leg in Anfeild, They need Van Der Vart and Sneijder­ in center midfeild,so they can try scoring outside the­ D-Box,as they can't get forward trough Liverpool­ defence.

    From kevin p, on Sun 1 Mar 2:28PM

  3. 10 conse. La liga wins! HALA MADRID!HALA MADRID!HALA­ MADRID!HALA MADRID!HALA MADRID!
    24-2 in goal­ difference! from 12 points up to Barca to 4 ! HALA­ MADRID!HALA MADRID! HASTA SIEMPRE REAL DE MADRID!!­ HASTA SIEMPRE REAL DE MADRID!! Liverpool, real played­ far better, and they outplayed you, but you scored from­ a set piece. It was a good game, but after boro game, i­ think Real has a great chance!

    From chechenr, on Sun 1 Mar 12:30PM

  4. 10 conse. La liga wins! HALA MADRID!HALA MADRID!HALA­ MADRID!HALA MADRID!HALA MADRID!
    24-2 in goal­ difference! from 12 points up to Barca to 4 ! HALA­ MADRID!HALA MADRID! HASTA SIEMPRE REAL DE MADRID!!­ HASTA SIEMPRE REAL DE MADRID!! Liverpool, real played­ far better, and they outplayed you, but you scored from­ a set piece. It was a good game, but after boro game, i­ think Real has a great chance!

    From chechenr, on Sun 1 Mar 12:30PM

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    From WWW.PREMIERSHIP.ALTERVISTA.ORG, on Sun 1 Mar 11:26AM

  6. Joe Y! I agree what you said about Steves mom and Papa,­ but i do have reservation about your comment about­ Barca...I think Real stink and they are ShIIt, Its­ Barca all the way in La Liga, and unfortunately Real is­ going to be empty handed...coz they are so boring and­ play @#$%, and their current stretch has been all about­ Luck. So finally all I say is how about your mama and­ papa joing' steve's.....VIVA BARCA...

    From simba s, on Sun 1 Mar 9:30AM

  7. FR2.. It was easy to see that esp. wouldn't get­ anything out from it when they couldn't score from­ the first half.

    Real played some decent attacks but­ was really no quality and worse than esp. attempts. It­ is simply looking at a team which are defending­ champions and spend as much as Man U every year to keep­ up with Barca, expecting more from them. Esp. played­ better but it was easy to see they were not really­ being much dangerous.

    Real were pretty @#$% as always­ though but I can see where you are coming from. But­ that was simply because esp. lack dangerous players.­ Tamudo has suddenly gone over the hill.

    From moon2309, on Sun 1 Mar 9:29AM

  8. steve you mama stinks and your dads can floss his teeth­ with balls hair. how bout that

    From Joe Y, on Sun 1 Mar 9:00AM

  9. Spanish teams are all over rated playing in a cr*p­ league.. Fact-when they play decent teams it is shown­ they really are @#$%!! Stop living on your history­ Barca & Real. Start planning for the UEFA cup next­ year cos you gonna win f**k all this year.­ HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa

    From steve01, on Sun 1 Mar 5:35AM

  10. Yall british get over yourselves...your time's up­ for REAL MADRID ... lol ,,,sound funny and so so­ correct.
    Go Galacticos, Go REAL...by the way have you­ forgotten that we kicked two british off the­ team...they were n't good enough though...should I­ tell ya names...??

    From mehdi y, on Sun 1 Mar 2:27AM

  11. Bloody auto-correction :-) showed me like a brainless­ illiterate. ha ha

    From Half A Brain, on Sun 1 Mar 1:26AM

  12. Whoever writes off Real in the return CL game is a­ fool..

    From Half A Brain, on Sun 1 Mar 1:26AM

  13. Whoever rights off Real in the return CL game is a­ fool..

    From Half A Brain, on Sun 1 Mar 1:26AM

  14. keep dreaming Joe Y...keep dreaming...may be the uefa­ should start giving the white muppets cups for reaching­ the KO stage which they havent passed in ages...dont­ get ur hopes up coz elbarca r gonna wanna tomorrow.

    From Abby, on Sun 1 Mar 12:19AM

  15. i think this report is messed up i watched the first­ half and REAL played better than espanyol better­ possession and looked hungrier playing thru the wings­ especially with Robben (exceptional player if he's­ not plauged with injuries) anyway i hope barca slip so­ it gets interesting and hey Liverpool u guys are the­ most inconsistent team but have great players hope the­ best team win in CL and come on GALATICOS????­ there's non of that..its more like dutch-spanish­ team lol

    From F2R, on Sat 28 Feb 11:35PM

  16. Joe Y, keep dreaming you soft git. Liverpool are going­ to destroy your precious so called­ "galacticos"

    From Gary B, on Sat 28 Feb 11:18PM

  17. Spic @#$%

    From ally12345uk, on Sat 28 Feb 11:15PM

  18. VIVA MADRID: Down to 4 points and after the classico in­ 5 weeks. we are only looking for one more point.­ Hopefully Atletico knock the @#$% outta Barca­ tomorrow...
    HASTA SIEMPRE REAL DE MADRID.
    And for the­ record, Liverpool, the game is far from over yet. we­ looking forward to come to England and do the same­ thing as Boro did to you this weekend

    From Joe Y, on Sat 28 Feb 11:07PM
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