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LFP: Barca victory re-ignites La Liga hopes

Real Zaragoza's Juan Francisco reacts during their match against Barcelona at La Romareda stadium in Zaragoza, Spain, on Saturday. PHOTO: AP

On a weekend when Real Madrid elected to honor legendary striker Alfredo di Stefano, described by UEFA president Michel Platini as "a great among greats," both Real and neighbors Atletico flopped as Barcelona reignited their La Liga hopes.

Di Stefano -- Real's honorary president -- witnessed the unveiling of a statue of him at Real's training center at Valdebabas in the suburbs of Madrid to commemorate the swathe of domestic and European titles the "blond arrow" won in the club's white jersey.

Today's vintage could have done with him after Real slumped 2-1 on Saturday at Real Betis, allowing Barcelona to close the gap at the top to five points with a win by the same score at Zaragoza sealed by a Ronaldinho penalty.

Thierry Henry had netted Barca's opener and afterwards insisted he was happy at the club despite coach Frank Rijkaard tending to give him a wider role than the one in which the Frenchman had so excelled at Arsenal before coming to the Camp Nou last summer.

Ronaldinho's spotkick to cancel out a Zaragoza equalizer by fellow Brazilian Oliveira propelled Barca on to 51 points from 24 matches, to 56 for Real.

Villarreal's Angel David, right, and Racing Santander's Pablo Pinillos fight for the ball during their La Liga soccer match at the Madrigal Stadium in Villarreal on Sunday. PHOTO: REUTERS

Real's German coach Bernd Schuster claimed his men deserved a point at Betis but the Sevilla-based side bounced back from Royston Drenthe's opener to win with goals from Edu and South Afican-born Mark Gonzalez, formerly a fringe player with Liverpool.

The title race is meanwhile more of a two-horse race than ever after would-be contenders lost ground on Sunday.

Villarreal are eight points adrift of Barca after a goalless stalemate at home to Racing Santander while Atletico Madrid failed to overhaul the former after going down 2-1 at home to struggling Athletic Bilbao, who move five points clear of the drop zone.

Antonio Lopez put Atletico ahead but Markel Susaeta and Fernando Llorente turned the tables before the break.

Sevilla are sixth, five points behind Atletico, after registering a fine 4-2 away win on Saturday at Espanyol built on goals in the opening 10 minutes from Luis Fabiano and Freddy Kanoute.

A left-foot strike from Luis Garcia gave Espanyol some hope five minutes before the break but the hosts then found themselves down to ten men after Zabaleta was sent off midway through the second period following a foul on Diego Capel.

Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen promptly restored the two-goal lead with the visitors' third after 73 minutes and, although Coro netted for Espanyol two minutes later, Sevilla held their nerve in a pulsating finale as Capel struck the clincher 13 minutes from time.
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