Spanish champions Real Madrid warm up for Wednesday’s Champions League duel with Liverpool with a home match against Real Betis today as they continue their bid to reel in runaway leaders Barcelona.
The upcoming European tie with Liverpool has understandably stolen the limelight this week, but Real need to retain their focus as they attempt to cut Barca’s 10-point advantage at the top.
Juande Ramos’ team have won eight successive league games and shaved two points off Barca’s lead last weekend when they crushed Sporting Gijon 4-0 and Betis held Barca to a 2-2 draw.
“Since my arrival [at the end of December], we have only collected one point less than Barca,” Ramos pointed out in the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. “There is no doubt we are doing brilliantly and are not that far away from the best Barcelona in history.”
Statistics show Barcelona have recorded the most ever points in the first half of the season — an incredible 50 points from 19 games — but coach Pep Guardiola has insisted that it will count for nothing if they don’t win the title.
Buoyed by a derby win over Sevilla and a point against Barca, Betis come to Madrid full of confidence and Real will be without midfielder Lassana Diarra through a bout of gastroenteritis, while Arjen Robben is a slight doubt with a hip problem.
Barcelona travel to Lyon on Tuesday for their Champions League assignment, but first of all they have a derby match against Espanyol tonight. It is top against bottom and with home advantage Barcelona are expected to win, especially when taking into account the fact that Espanyol have not tasted victory since the beginning of November.
Nevertheless, Barca shouldn’t be complacent having struggled to a 2-1 win in the first league game when Espanyol led 1-0 until Thierry Henry (78 minutes) equalized and Lionel Messi scored a winning penalty eight minutes into stoppage time.
Samuel Eto’o scored twice as Barca came from behind to snatch a 2-2 draw at Betis last weekend, but has admitted this week that he may not stay at the club beyond the end of the season.
“Will I stay at Barca? I have made a decision on my future, but I can’t say anything at the moment,” Eto’o told magazine Sportsweek. “I don’t like players that kiss the badge after scoring because they don’t hesitate to leave if another club offers a million euros more.”
Eto’o, top scorer in the league with 23 goals, has openly said former club Real Mallorca is where his heart lies, but the club are third from bottom of the table so a transfer would represent a huge backward step. Guardiola was willing to let Eto’o go in the summer, but will be glad he didn’t with the Cameroon forward’s goals powering his team 10-point clear at the summit.
“For me, 10 points is a considerable advantage and we are also on form and dominating games,” Barca midfielder Xavi said. “We are calm and hope to continue like this because we could win some titles this season.”
Elsewhere, the game of the weekend sees Champions League hopefuls Atletico Madrid and Sevilla face off in Seville today.
Sevilla sit third, which is where they would like to be at the end of the campaign, while Atletico are five points behind in sixth.
Goals are usually forthcoming in this fixture and Atletico attacker Diego Forlan sung the praises of strike partner Sergio “Kun” Aguero, comparing the Argentine to former Brazil and Barcelona great Romario.
“Aguero is like Romario,” Forlan said. “His style is reminiscent of how Romario used to play. He is rapid, a great dribbler and has lots of ability.”
Valencia are three points behind Sevilla in fourth and travel to Deportivo La Coruna tomorrow desperate to cure their away sickness.
Valencia have lost their last five away matches and midfielder David Albelda admits it is a difficult time for everyone at the club.
“Over a season, you have highs and lows and I think you can say we are having our most difficult moment of the season,” Albelda said.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB