Barcelona warmed up for next Sunday's tussle against Real Madrid with a 3-0 victory over Valencia on Saturday but it came at a cost with Argentine star Lionel Messi ruled out of El Classico with a foot injury.
Messi, the club's top-scorer with eight goals, limped off shortly before half-time and Barcelona confirmed that an injury to his left foot will rule him out of the mouthwatering title tussle.
Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o brought some relief to his team by scoring his first league goals of the season as Barcelona moved to just one point behind Real who were due to play Osasuna last night.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Eto'o had been out since the end of August with a serious knee injury but showed his value with a brace in the 12th and 26th minutes to make it three goals in four days.
Eidur Gudjohnsen added a third.
It was only Barcelona's second away win of the season.
For Valencia it was a sixth defeat at their Mestalla Stadium where some home fans left after Gudjohnsen's goal after the hour mark.
Valencia coach Ronald Koeman was hoping to plot the downfall of the club where he is still adored -- making close to 200 appearances and scoring the winning goal in the 1992 European Cup final -- but was not helped with the loss of striker David Villa to injury.
In contrast, Barca coach Frank Rijkaard had the luxury of omitting Ronaldinho with Spanish international midfielder Andres Iniesta included to provide more steel.
After just three minutes, Eto'o had a great chance but his lack of match sharpness showed with his control poor.
But in the 13th minute he more than made amends with a brilliant individual goal.
Showing quick feet to shift the ball Eto'o fooled two defenders and drove a fierce left-footed shot into the corner.
It was just a matter of time before the second goal arrived and it did on 26 minutes with Eto'o producing a clincial finish from a great Messi pass.
Messi then limped off but it did not stop Barca with Gudjohnsen completing the scoring on 61 minutes.
Espanyol plan to be challenging for a Champions League place come the end of the season and they are well on course following a 1-0 win over Levante lifted them to fourth place in Saturday's other game.
A goal from Jarque after eight minutes clinched the points as last season's UEFA Cup finalists moved level with Atletico Madrid.
Levante fell to their 13th defeat in 16 games and are eight points from safety.
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
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Spain are in danger of not getting out of EuroBasket Group C after losing 67-63 to Italy on Tuesday, but the defending champions still control their destiny. Marco Spissu put Italy in front for good at 64-63 with two free throws with 31 seconds left and made two more with 14 seconds remaining. Giampaolo Ricci converted one of two free throws with eight seconds on the clock. Spain, which in 2022 won their fourth title, are tied with Georgia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 2-2 each. Greece and Italy have clinched two of the group’s four spots in the round-of-16,
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