Barcelona reeled off their seventh successive win to reach the summit of the Spanish first division but Saturday’s 4-1 win at Malaga was marred by racism directed at their Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o.
African forward Eto’o was subjected to monkey chants by the home fans at the La Rosaleda before being booed when he was substituted late on as racism reared its ugly head once again.
Eto’o, 27, has become a major figure in soccer’s bid to kick racism out of the game after being on the receiving end of racist remarks in the past.
In February 2006, Eto’o had wanted to leave the pitch in a 2-0 victory against Real Zaragoza after being forced to listen to monkey cries and dodge peanuts thrown at him. Then coach Frank Rijkaard persuaded him to continue and Zaragoza were fined.
Eto’o was not on the scoresheet in Barca’s 4-1 win with Spain’s Euro 2008 hero Xavi Hernandez and a sixth goal of the season from Argentine Lionel Messi sealing the points on a rain-soaked pitch.
In the league Barca are a point clear of Villarreal at the top with the latter also winning 4-1 over Athletic Bilabo to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.
Valencia could have displaced Barca at the summit but fell to their first league defeat of the season with a 4-2 home loss against Racing Santander.
Congo striker Mohamed Tchite scored a sensational hat-trick to down Valencia who stay third, two points behind Barcelona.
It was only Racing’s second win of the season and they jump to 11th spot.
Elsewhere Argentine attacker Sergio “Kun” Aguero gave Liverpool something to think about ahead of tomorrow’s Champions League match at Anfield with a brace as Atletico Madrid defeated Real Mallorca 2-0 at the Vicente Calderon on Saturday.
Aguero was back in the starting XI after being rested for the past few matches and returned with a bang scoring a first half double.
It was Atletico’s first league victory since Sept. 24 and Javier Aguirre’s side climb to sixth.
Villarreal put their Kings Cup nightmare firmly behind them with a 4-1 triumph at Athletic Bilbao to go second.
Villarreal went into the match reeling from a 5-0 Kings Cup humiliation by minnows Poli Ejido but responded in the perfect way.
Goals from Giuseppe Rossi, veteran Robert Pires and Santiago Cazorla wrapped up the points for the visitors.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
Thanks to Italy beating Mexico on Wednesday, the US get another chance in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). What looked like a potentially disastrous early exit for US manager Mark DeRosa and his team turned out to be nothing more than substantial worry and significant embarrassment for about 24 hours. It remains to be seen whether the US really want to win badly enough for the reprieve to matter, as if it is just a switch they can flick, but there is little reason for their fans to be optimistic. The team’s attitude and behavior have been all over the place when
RSS