Real Madrid continued their impressive start to the new year, with Karim Benzema giving them a 1-0 victory in their Copa del Rey quarter-final first-leg tie away to RCD Espanyol on Tuesday.
Benzema’s 25th-minute goal meant Real have come out on top in each of their six games since Christmas, a burst of good form that has seen them close the gap to just one point behind Barcelona and Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga.
Espanyol have a good record against Real in the Copa and knocked them out the last time the pair met in the 1999-2000 season, but Carlo Ancelotti’s side put themselves in the driving seat with a solid performance.
Photo: AFP
It was a spirited display from Espanyol, but it will take something special for them to turn the tie around at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The winners could play holders Atletico Madrid in the semis if they come through their tie with Athletic Bilbao, while Barca face Levante UD on the other side of the draw.
“Espanyol made it difficult especially at the end and this was a good result for us,” fullback Alvaro Arbeloa told reporters.
“They [Espanyol] knew that 1-0 was bad and so pushed forward hoping to score in front of their own fans, but we were solid,” he added.
“This is the line to follow for us as if we can keep secure at the back then we know we will get chances in attack with the quality we have there,” Arbeloa said. “There is a good relationship in the dressing room with the coach and we need to keep this run going.”
Ancelotti put out a strong squad, with only Xabi Alonso rested in the middle of the pitch as Real looked to repeat their victory over los Periquitos earlier this month in the league.
While the visitors linked up well in possession, Espanyol worked hard and Sergio Garcia unsettled Sergio Ramos and Pepe with a battling performance.
Espanyol might have taken the lead when Garcia, formerly of Barcelona, pulled the ball back for Pizzi after 15 minutes, but the Portuguese shot over.
Cristiano Ronaldo responded with a strike against the post, as los Blancos began to put pressure on Espanyol and they went ahead when Arbeloa’s cross was flicked on by Gareth Bale for Benzema to head home.
Arbeloa and Benzema failed to make the most of clear openings for Real after the break, and the visitors needed Iker Casillas to make a smart save to deny Jhon Cordoba at the other end.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier