Mali international midfielder Seydou Keita scored only his second goal of the season as champions Barcelona moved 10 points clear of Real Madrid in the Spanish first division with a hard-fought 1-0 home win over Real Zaragoza on Saturday.
The 31-year-old Keita, a fringe player this season, scored the decisive goal on 43 minutes as Barcelona made it three league wins in the space of eight days and piled the pressure on Real.
It was a far from vintage performance, but three points and another clean sheet are the perfect preparation for Barcelona’s Champions League second leg showdown with Arsenal tomorrow as Barca bid to overturn a 2-1 deficit.
Photo: AFP
“It was a difficult game and we had to be careful of the counter attack as Zaragoza have some quick players,” Barcelona defender Gaby Milito said. “We couldn’t find as much space as we have done in the past, but we have won and now we can think about the Champions League.”
Real Madrid were in action yesterday when they travelled to Racing Santander, looking to improve their erratic away form, but they must do so without top-scorer Cristiano Ronaldo who is missing with a thigh muscle strain.
With the Arsenal game in three days time, Barca coach Pep Guardiola rested Spanish stars David Villa and Andres Iniesta allowing Keita and Bojan Krkic a chance to shine.
Goalkeeper Victor Valdes also returned between the sticks after missing the last three league matches with a knee injury so Jose Manuel Pinto dropped to the bench.
Barca were almost given a shock in the eighth minute with Gerard Pique called upon to make a decisive late tackle as Nicolas Bertolo was about to shoot on goal.
The hosts had their first real effort in the 18th minute with Pedro Rodriguez’s low shot tipped wide of the post after the home side had worked a training ground corner routine.
Minutes later Bojan’s deflected shot clipped the bar and Keita had a header ruled out for a marginal offside.
Keita scored again on 43 minutes and this time the goal stood. Lionel Messi showed his trademark close control to get behind two Zaragoza defenders and cut the ball back from the right touch-line and the ball fell kindly for Keita to stroke home only his second league goal of the season.
Zaragoza, two points above the relegation zone, almost levelled early in the second half with Bertolo going past Pique but his curling effort crept centimeters past the post.
Pique had a header saved on the goal line before Florent Sinama Pongolle missed a glorious chance to equalize, an outstretched foot from Valdes denying the Frenchman.
Substitute Villa should have scored a second for Barca on 73 minutes, but the striker blazed over after Maxwell’s shot had been parried by Antonio Doblas. However, it didn’t matter as the hosts saw out the game.
Earlier Spanish international winger Pablo Hernandez scored twice as Valencia came from behind to win 2-1 at Real Mallorca to move four points clear of fourth-placed Villarreal.
Hernandez, 25, scored in each half as Valencia bounced back from their midweek 1-0 home defeat to Barcelona with their eighth away win of the season to strengthen their position in third.
Elsewhere Villarreal lost ground on Valencia following a 3-1 loss to Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon.
Italian striker Giuseppe Rossi cancelled out Jose Antonio Reyes’ brilliant early opener, but quick-fire goals from Sergio “Kun” Aguero and Diego Forlan on 68 and 72 minutes put the game to bed for Atletico.
Atletico climbed above Athletic Bilbao into sixth although Bilbao could reclaim the position with a draw or better at home to Sevilla yesterday.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS