Barcelona were back to their brilliant best, crushing Deportivo La Coruna 5-0 at Camp Nou on Saturday to move 15 points clear of Real Madrid and 12 ahead of Sevilla at the top of the Spanish first division.
A mesmerizing first half display saw Barcelona score three times with Lionel Messi, voted second behind Cristiano Ronaldo in the World Player of the Year award last Monday, Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto’o all on the scoresheet. Henry grabbed his 11th goal of the season with eight minutes left while Eto’o took his personal tally to 18 with a second from the penalty spot in the closing stages.
The Catalan giants are now 17 matches unbeaten in the league and have set a new record of 50 points at the halfway point of the season. Real set the previous best of 47 points last season.
PHOTO: AFP
“It has been a good first half of the season,” Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said. “We have lots of points, have only lost once [in the league] and scored lots of goals. “We haven’t won anything but we are another small step closer to our goal.”
A late goal from Renato helped Sevilla defeat promoted Numancia 1-0 in Saturday’s late game.
Brazilian Renato netted an 81st minute winner to guide Sevilla into second although champions Real had a chance to replace them with a home victory over bottom side Osasuna yesterday.
Barcelona struggled to defeat strugglers Osasuna 3-2 the previous weekend, but Guardiola kept faith with his first choice 11 leaving Andres Iniesta on the bench.
“The team is working so well at the moment,” midfielder Yaya Toure of the Ivory Coast said. “The coach is a winner and he transmits that to us. After two years without a trophy we want one and so do the fans.”
Henry should have scored after just 30 seconds with Messi creating the chance in the penalty area, but the French striker shot straight at the goalkeeper. Eto’o then almost scored on the quarter hour mark, dummying two defenders only to scuff his shot.
The inevitable breakthrough came on 21 minutes with Messi dribbling at speed before guiding his shot in off the post for his 12th of the season. Henry went into double figures for the campaign six minutes later, heading in a pinpoint cross from Dani Alves.
Messi should have scored his second with a clear header, but missed the target and Eto’o spurned another great chance. The Cameroon forward finally got his goal after 41 minutes with a tap-in.
Henry made it 4-0 on 82 minutes and Eto’o completed the scoring with a late penalty after goalkeeper Daniel Aranzubia chopped down Carles Puyol and was red-carded.
While all is going Barca’s way, Real had a rough last week, with head Ramon Calderon stepping down on Friday following allegations that he rigged voting at the club’s last annual general assembly. Calderon, who left in tears, had come under fire for his failure to come good on promises to land top transfer targets Ronaldo and Kaka.
“I am leaving with my hands clean and my conscience clear, with a lot less money and health than when I took up my mandate in 2006,” Calderon said.
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,
RIVALRY: Carlos Alcaraz lost his previous two matches against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, in the Australian Open quarter-finals this year and Paris Olympics final last year Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday dazzled at the US Open to make the semi-finals before Novak Djokovic of Serbia danced his way through to book a New York showdown with the Spaniard that would mark the latest chapter in their generational rivalry. Former champion Alcaraz produced yet another entertaining display at Flushing Meadows to dismantle 20th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at a sunbathed Arthur Ashe Stadium, securing his place in the last four without dropping a set this year. “Sometimes I play a shot that I should not play in that moment, but it’s the way I love
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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