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.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
RSS