Lionel Messi’s exquisite finish set Barcelona on their way to a potentially decisive 2-0 win at Real Madrid on Saturday to lift the champions three points clear of their arch-rivals at the top of La Liga.
After his brilliant four-goal Champions League haul against Arsenal on Tuesday, the Argentina forward struck in the 33rd minute at the Bernabeu before Pedro doubled the visitors’ lead in the 56th with a clinical left-foot strike.
Both goals were created by Barca’s Spanish international midfielder Xavi, the first when he chipped the ball to Messi over the Real defense and the second when he sent Pedro clear to finish with a low strike beyond goalkeeper Iker Casillas.
La Liga top scorer Messi twice came close to adding to his 27 goals of the campaign and Barca goalkeeper Victor Valdes was rarely troubled as Real struggled against the European champions’ slick passing game.
The victory puts Barca on 80 points with seven matches left and leaves the big-spending Madrid club, who have 77, facing a season without silverware after their exits from the Champions League and King’s Cup.
It was a fourth straight win in El Clasico for Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola and he becomes the first manager of the Catalan club to claim two straight away wins over Real.
After a tense opening to a contest Marca sports daily had dubbed “the match of the millennium,” Messi squared the ball to Xavi and he lifted a delicate chip over the static defense.
Messi timed his run to perfection, controlled the ball on his chest and dinked a shot past Casillas into the net.
Striker Gonzalo Higuain fluffed a chance to put the hosts level in the 41st when a mistake by Gerard Pique put him clear but he did little to boost his chances of starting for Argentina at the World Cup by slicing his shot into the crowd.
Xavi underlined why he will be crucial to Spain’s bid for a first World Cup triumph in South Africa when he carved open the Real defense with a superb through ball and Pedro raced into the area to double Barca’s lead.
Although the Catalans did not match their 6-2 thrashing of Real in last season’s Clasico in the Spanish capital, their performance was no less dominant.
Real coach Manuel Pellegrini threw on veterans Raul and Guti to try to spark the team into life but they faded badly as the final whistle drew near.
Real president Florentino Perez spent close to US$334 million on players including Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka last summer, but any hopes of instant titles appear to have been dashed.
Financial experts say his strategy of buying high-profile players to boost sales of merchandise needs success on the pitch, especially in Europe, to support it but they may now have to wait until next season to reap the fruits of their massive investment.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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