Captain marvel Raul scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid defeated Sevilla 4-2 on Sunday to cut Barcelona’s advantage at the top to four points ahead of next Saturday’s “El Clasico” at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Barcelona had dropped two points in a 2-2 draw at Valencia on Saturday and Real capitalized as Raul gave coach Juande Ramos a win on his first return to Sevilla.
“It was crucial that we won this match,” Ramos said. “We have been winning lots of games but not getting any closer and sometimes it seems like hard work. Now we have closed to within four points and have home advantage against Barcelona next Saturday.”
Brazilian Renato put Sevilla in front on 17 minutes, but Raul leveled just before half-time and then scored twice inside three minutes (63, 66) to complete his hat-trick and take his season’s tally to 18.
“It was pivotal to score just before the break,” Ramos said. “We took more risks in the second half because nothing less than a victory was good enough.”
Diego Capel gave Sevilla a glimmer of hope with an 80th minute strike, but Marcelo scored for Real in the dying seconds to make it 4-2.
Sevilla had beaten Real 4-3 at the Bernabeu in Bernd Schuster’s final match in charge and since then Ramos has guided the champions back into the title race with 17 victories in 19 games. Back in mid-December Barcelona had a 12-point buffer after beating Real 2-0, but that has now been sliced to just four points as the two sides prepare to face off again.
For Sevilla it was a fourth straight league loss and Valencia are just a point behind in fourth.
Real had to do without the suspended Pepe who will not play again this season after picking up a 10-game ban for his violent conduct against Getafe.
In the dug-out, Ramos was jeered by Sevilla fans who used to worship him for winning two UEFA Cups and a King’s Cup, but later branded him a mercenary when he resigned to join Tottenham in October 2007.
Earlier on Sunday, Villarreal moved a point behind fourth-placed Valencia in the Champions League race with a 2-1 win at Getafe.
Atletico Madrid stayed within three points of Villarreal with a 3-1 home win over strugglers Sporting Gijon on Sunday.
In Sunday’s other games it was:
• Recreativo Huelva 2 (Sisi 48, Camunas 81), Real Mallorca 4 (Jurado 10, Arango 15, Castro 76, Keita 90)
• Valladolid 0, Osasuna 0
• Athletic Bilbao 2 (Llorente 21, Lopez 41-pen), Racing Santander 1 (Pinillos 57-pen)
• Espanyol 2 (Luis Garcia 4, Roman 83), Real Betis 0
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Cycling great Marianne Vos won the opening stage of the women’s Tour de France with a brilliant late attack on Saturday. The 38-year-old Dutchwoman overtook her Visma–Lease a Bike teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prevot approaching the line, and then held off Mauritian rider Kim Le Court in the closing meters of a grueling uphill finish. Ferrand-Prevot looked set to win the stage, but the Frenchwoman attacked too early from 600m and could not withstand the late surge from Vos, who punched the air with her left fist as she crossed the line. Moments later, Vos hugged an exhausted-looking Ferrand-Prevot, the Paris-Roubaix winner. “I didn’t know if
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
RSS