The see-saw season at the top of the Spanish first division continued with league leaders Barcelona going down 2-0 at Villarreal on Sunday.
Barcelona saw their lead at the top of La Liga cut back to one point after Sevilla beat Athletic Bilbao 4-1 earlier on Sunday while Real Madrid are just one point further back in third after beating Valencia 2-1 on Saturday.
The man who will have to take the blame for both of Villarreal's goals is Barcelona defender and former French international Lilian Thuram who, in this game at least, confirmed his critics' view that he is now too slow for top class soccer.
PHOTO: AP
Against the run of play, Barcelona having had much the better of the first half, Robert Pires opened the scoring after 56 minutes, running free after Thuram had failed to properly execute Barca's off-side trap.
Barcelona continued to press but Thuram failed to contain Villarreal's Diego Forlan on one of the home side's counter-attacks and Marcos Garcia was left with a clear shot on goal five minutes before the end.
Ronaldinho nearly got a consolation goal for Barca in injury time but his shot hit the cross bar and their defeat leaves La Liga wide open with seven games to play.
PHOTO: AP
Sevilla had thrashed Athletic Bilbao earlier on Sunday to keep up the pressure on Barca and continue their pursuit of an unprecedented treble.
"It's going to be a frantic end to the season," commented Sevilla coach Juande Ramos.
In addition to challenging for their first La Liga crown since 1946, Sevilla are also in the Spanish Cup and UEFA Cup semi-finals.
"We don't have any order of priority, we can only take one game at a time," Ramos said.
After Luis Fabiano had hit the post with a penalty in the first half, Sevilla sprang to life after the break.
Fabiano made up for his miss quickly after the break when he provided a superb defense-splitting pass for Sevilla's Russian striker Aleksander Kerzhakov to score from 15m after 49 minutes.
Antonio Puerta and Ernesto Chevanton added further goals for Sevilla before Franciso Yeste got one back for Athletic with a header after 74 minutes.
However, Sevilla were not finished and Fabiano got himself among the goalscorers eight minutes from time.
Two goals in three minutes by Brazilian striker Ewerton gave Real Zaragoza a 2-0 win over struggling Celta Vigo on Sunday and moved them up to fourth place.
Celta had the best of the early chances in the sweltering temperatures, twice going close through another Brazilian striker Nene, but Ewerton's arrival after 68 minutes changed the course of the game.
"It was like playing in an inferno," reflected Zaragoza coach Victor Fernandez, commenting about the heat.
"We lacked any sort of individual inspiration and it was an even game until Ewerton came on, but he was like a breath of fresh air," Fernandez said.
After 72 minutes, Ewerton unleashed a stunning right foot thunderbolt from outside the area to break the deadlock and then used his left foot to score Zaragoza's second.
Celta stay one place above the relegation zone despite the loss but are now only ahead of Levante on goal difference after the Valencia-based side drew 1-1 with Getafe.
Levante's Ghanaian winger Riga Mustapha stabbed a loose ball home in a goal mouth scramble after just four minutes but Getafe equalized just before the hour through David Belenguer.
Gimnastic Tarragona's chances of avoiding an immediate return to the Spanish second division worsened when the bottom club went down 1-0 at Real Mallorca.
"We are going to carry on playing as well as we can but I don't have a crystal ball. If we play as well as we did last week [when they beat Zaragoza] then we can still survive," said Gimnastic coach Paco Flores.
"But I'm not going to try and trick anyone nor build up anybody's dreams," said Flores, well aware that time is running out.
Mallorca's Victor Casadesus got the only goal of the game after 20 minutes with a low, hard-driven, right foot shot from just inside the area.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set