Barca draw again in spanish league

Madrid: Barcelona’s chances of winning the Spanish title looked doomed after a 0-0 draw in the local derby with Espanyol. Despite dominating the game for long periods, the Spanish giants failed to find the net in their Nou Camp stadium thanks to a combination of poor finishing and solid defending from Espanyol. Barca have drawn their last three league games. Real Madrid now have an eight-point advantage over Barca at the top of the table and a game in hand. The 30-time Spanish champions could have this season’s league title wrapped up by the time Barca visit the Santiago Bernabeu stadium for the latest edition of ‘El Clasico’ on May 7. Barcelona had a purple patch in the middle of the first half but Xavi Hernandez, Gianluca Zambrotta and Samuel Eto’O couldn’t convert good opportunities. Even the introduction of the often-inspirational Lionel Messi at half time failed to break the deadlock. Barca pressed hard for almost the entire second half but were unable to break down a resilient Espanyol.

Spanish La Liga and Italian Serie A soccer round up

Madrid: Marco Ruben scored with two headers and rallied Recreativo Huelva to a 2-2 draw against FC Barcelona. The Argentine forward looped the equaliser over approaching goalkeeper Victor Valdes inside the far post in the 71st minute. Samuel Eto’o accounted for both of Barcelona’s goals, outjumping his marker in the second minute to deflect Giovani dos Santos’ short cross and spraying a bouncing ball from long range into the top corner in the 46th. Barcelona failed to subdue the 17th-place Recreativo and can fall further behind La Liga leader Real Madrid. Madrid, which plays no 19 Murcia, has 66 points, six more than Barcelona. Villarreal, which plays 9th-ranked Almeria, has 59. Recreativo has 37 to be four clear of relegation. Earlier on Saturday, Mohammed Tchite scored in the 83rd to give Racing Santander a 2-1 win over Valencia.

Juve beat 10-man AC Milan in thriller

Rome: Juventus dealt a potentially fatal blow to 10-man AC Milan’s Champions League hopes with a 3-2 win in blockbuster match in Turin. Goals from Alessandro del Piero, David Trezeguet and Hassan Salihamidzich gave the hosts the edge over the reigning European champions, who counted two Filippo Inzaghi goals while Daniele Bonera was dismissed in the second half. Juve thus closed the gap on second-placed AS Roma to seven points.

Real Madrid forced to draw by Mallorca in Spanish Primera La Liga

Madrid: Ten-man Real Madrid continue to give their title rivals hope after dropping two points in an action-packed 1-1 draw at Real Mallorca. Wesley Sneijder put Real ahead shortly before half-time but Sergio Ramos was sent off for two bookings midway through the second half and seven minutes later Mallorca made the extra man count with substitute Borja Valero curling in a brilliant equaliser on Saturday. Real are now seven points ahead of Villarreal at the top of the Spanish first division but Manuel Pellegrini’s team can shave that lead to four points with victory over Sevilla on Sunday. Barcelona are eight points behind Real and have a tricky home match against Getafe. Real were relieved to pick up a point as Mallorca should have won the match late on but Daniel Guiza hit the crossbar with the goal at his mercy to let the champions off the hook.

Real betis shocked Barca in Spanish La Liga

Barcelona surrendered a two-goal lead in a 3-2 loss at Real Betis that dropped them into third place in the Spanish league after Villarreal beat Atletico Madrid 3-0. Betis striker Edu Schmidt scored twice as Barcelona conceded three goals in 15 minutes in the second half. Villarreal improved to 59 points behind two goals from Nihat Kahveci and another by Santiago Cazorla. Real Madrid, who played sixth-ranked Sevilla on Sunday, lead the standings with 62 points, while Barcelona remained on 58. Edu moved around defender Liliam Thuram before unleashing a spinning shot that beat Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes inside the near post for the winner in the 78th minute. Edu, who also had a penalty kick saved by Valdes in the 75th, started Betis’ rally with a header in the 63rd. Juanito Gutierrez chested a throw-in before hitting a low volley past Valdes to equalise in the 76th. “I’m ashamed by this result,” Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard said.

FC Barcelona comes closer to Real Madrid in the Spanish La Liga

FC Barcelona closed to within four points of Real Madrid in the Spanish league, picking up a 4-1 win over Valladolid while the defending champions lost to Valencia 3-2. Bojan Krkic scored two second-half goals and set up the other two for Barcelona on Sunday. Madrid, which had been trying to maintain its sevenpoint lead at the top of the standings, lost at home when Javier Arizmendi scored in the 89th minute. Arizmendi outran Fabio Cannavaro to a long ball and then got around the Madrid defender before sliding his shot past goalkeeper Iker Casillas inside the far post. “The truth is lately we’re paying for our errors, which aren’t many, but we’re directly paying with goals,’’ Madrid coach Bernd Schuster said. “It’s not always necessary to risk so much to create an opportunity.’’ Madrid still lead the league with 62 points, followed by Barcelona with 58. Villarreal is third with 56 points. David Villa scored two goals, one from the penalty spot, for Valencia, which also reached the Copa del Rey final by beating Barcelona. Villa gave the visitors the lead in the 34th from a Madrid turnover, but Raul Gonzalez headed in an equalizer in the 35th. Raul scored his 15th goal by tipping Jose Maria ‘Guti’ Gutierrez’s short pass at the penalty spot in the 56th and volleying it past Valencia goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand. Hildebrand made up for that miss 10 minutes later when he dove to catch Sergio Ramos’ header on the goal line. Cannavaro then pushed David Silva inside the area and Villa took the penalty, catching Casillas going the other way in the 67th. Hildebrand twice stopped shots from substitute Gonzalo Higuain — first from a header, then on the rebound — in the 80th, and Raul Albiol cleared an angled shot from the Argentine forward off the line with three minutes left. The Germany goalkeeper then swiped Raul’s pointblank header over the bar a minute into injury time.

Real failed again at Riazor

Real Madrid lost 1-0 against Deportivo la Coruna in the Primera Liga on Saturday as they failed to break their jinx at the Riazor. The Spanish champions have not won in La Coruna since November 1991 and never looked like breaking the sequence after losing to a second-half own-goal by Portugal defender Pepe. Real stay eight points clear of second-placed Barcelona, who have 54. The match between Real Betis and Athletic Bilbao at the Manuel Ruiz de Lopera was abandoned midway through the second half with the score at 2-1 after Bilbao goalkeeper Armando was hit in the face by a bottle thrown from the stands. Armando had stitches for a cut near his eye. In the late game, Brazil striker Luis Fabiano took his tally for the season to 22 with both goals in Sevilla’s 2-0 win at Valencia. The first was a well-taken free-kick in the 11th minute and the second came soon after as he diverted Seydou Keita’s long-range shot past Timo Hildebrand. Although defender Raul Albiol pulled one back right at the end, Valencia and their under-fire coach Ronald Koeman left the pitch to a barrage of whistles from the home crowd.