Zinedine Zidane helped Vanderlei Luxemburgo get off to a dream start as Real Madrid coach when he scored the winner to give his side an incredible 2-1 victory over Real Sociedad in a frantic seven-minute mini-match at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.
The French midfielder scored the crucial goal after team mate Ronaldo had been brought down in the area four minutes into a match that had to be completed 24 days after the original fixture was abandoned because of a bomb scare.
PHOTO: EPA
The result means that Real move up into third place in the table, level on points behind second-placed Valencia and 10 adrift of league leaders Barcelona.
The game marked a wonderful debut for Luxemburgo, who was appointed as Real coach after the club unexpectedly sacked his predecessor Mariano Garcia Remon last week.
The Brazilian will go down as one of the few coaches in footballing history to take charge of a team midway through a match and celebrate by guiding his team to a morale-boosting victory.
In the first game Ronaldo put Real ahead against the run of play with an acrobatic strike on the turn just three minutes before halftime.
But Sociedad got a deserved equalizer in the second half when live-wire Turkish forward Nihat Kahveci scored with a carbon copy strike and were on top when the game was halted.
The second round of the game was a different matter altogether and Real showed a new desire and verve.
The match restarted with a goal kick for Sociedad, but the visitors quickly lost control of the ball and it was Real, roared on by 15,000 fans who had been given free access to the stadium, who piled on the pressure.
Striker Fernando Morientes, who was given a rare start ahead of Michael Owen, had a couple of half chances in the first two minutes, but it was a hopeful kick forward from midfielder Guti that helped decide the game.
Ronaldo managed to control the ball, raced into the area, unleashed a couple of trademark step-overs and was brought down by a desperate challenge from Sociedad fullback Mikel Labaka.
Referee Vicente Lizondo Cortes had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Zidane fired his spot kick inside the right-hand post to score the winner.
Fulham vs Southampton
Former England striker Kevin Phillips was on target twice but Southampton had to settle for a point in a 3-3 draw with Fulham on Wednesday which left the Saints still rooted in relegation trouble.
It was only Southampton's second point from the hectic four-match Christmas schedule and it also left manager Harry Redknapp, whose son Jamie was making his debut, waiting for his first victory.
In a thrilling first-half, Fulham snatched the lead in the 20th minute when Papa Boupa Diop edged a free-kick from Mark Pembridge past Antii Niemi in the Southampton goal.
But within 50 seconds of the restart, the Saints were level when Phillips beat the offside trap to head home a cross from Fabrice Fernandes.
Eight minutes later Phillips was on target again to give Southampton the lead.
Fulham striker Tomasz Radzinksi was caught in possession by Jamie Redknapp who released Phillips. The former England man then nipped past the challenges of Zeshan Rehman and Zat Knight to curl a low shot past Edwin van der Sar from 18 meters.
However, the Londoners were level just two minutes before half-time when Niemi parried a Luis Boa Morte drive which fell to Steed Malbranque who volleyed home from 15 meters.
Fulham then went looking for the lead and Radzinski made up for his earlier error by firing his team in front five minutes into the second half.
Boa Morte took the ball off Redknapp and Radzinski finished off his team's quick break with a clinical finish.
Collins John then had a chance to make it 4-2 but Niemi saved with his legs.
Incredibly, the Saints made the most of their good fortune by pulling themselves level again in the 71st minute.
Anders Svensson hit a low cross from the left where Liam Rosenior, under pressure from Peter Crouch, turned the ball into his own net.
FA Cup
Liverpool are prepared to place their FA Cup destiny in the hands of their youngsters as the Premiership giants tackle a major injury crisis which has engulfed Anfield.
Goalkeeper Chris Kirkland, who has been ruled out for three months, and midfielder Xabi Alonso, who faces 10 weeks on the sidelines, are the latest players to be ruled out of contention for Friday's FA Cup third round trip to Championship side Burnley.
Reds manager Rafael Benitez has also been missing the services of Milan Baros, Harry Kewell and Djibril Cisse and with qualification for the Champions League the main priority, a strong finish in the Premiership is vital.
Benitez has already shown faith in his Academy graduates by promoting the youngsters during League Cup ties this season and it's a tactic which has paid off with Liverpool making the semifinals.
Stephen Warnock, David Raven and John Welsh were all included in the squad for the win at Norwich on Monday, and they look set to be joined by Zak Whitbread in the party which heads to Turf Moor for the tricky tie.
Burnley saw their firepower reduced on Wednesday when skipper and top-scorer Robbie Blake left for Birmingham for ?1.25 million.
The 28-year-old, who was hit 13 goals, signed a three-and-a-half-year deal and will be available for Blues' FA Cup third round tie at home to Leeds tomorrow.
Burnley defender Michael Duff is fighting a race against time in an oxygen tank to be fit for the tie against Liverpool, who have won the FA Cup on six occasions.
Duff is spending the week undergoing specialist treatment on the calf strain he suffered during Monday's 1-0 win at Stoke City.
"Michael is in the oxygen tank, but we are just not sure there will be enough time," said Burnley boss Steve Cotterill.
"Until the scan results come through, we just don't know yet if he will be fit."
Burnley, who were founder-members of the Football League, won the FA Cup in 1914 but are currently marooned in mid-table in the Championship.
the `Goal which never was'
The linesman at the controversy over the Tottenham "goal which never was" insisted he had no regrets over the embarrassing blunder.
Rob Lewis said there was no way that he could be sure Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll had dropped the ball over his own line as the player scrambled to catch a long-range effort from Pedro Mendes in the 0-0 draw at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
Lewis, 35, insisted there was no way he could be certain the ball had crossed the line because seconds before the incident, he was halfway up the pitch in line with the United defense.
"I was doing my primary job, which was to stand in line with the last defender and watch for offside," Lewis told the Shropshire Star newspaper.
"I pride myself on being relatively fast over a short distance but by the time the ball landed, I was still 25 meters away from goal and it was impossible from that distance to judge if it had crossed the line.
"I could not have guessed because you have to be 100 percent sure on such important decisions.
"I am disappointed because I always like to get decisions right. But I have thought about it a lot since the incident and there was nothing I could have done differently -- apart from run faster than [former British sprinter] Linford Christie."
Carroll and Lewis' combined blunder has re-opened the debate about whether video technology should be used to rule on such decisions in the future.
The issue is due to be discussed at a FIFA Board meeting in Cardiff on Feb. 26.
It seems certain that some kind of extended experiment will be sanctioned in the near future.
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