Manchester City reject Roque Santa Cruz scored twice as 10-man Real Betis Balompie maintained their 100 percent Liga BBVA record with a 4-3 victory over Real Zaragoza on Thursday to open a two-point lead at the top.
Santa Cruz, on loan from English giants City, scored the first of a double after seven minutes and Salva Sevilla extended the lead from the penalty spot, before Efrain Juarez pulled a goal back for Zaragoza.
Betis, promoted from the second division last season, never looked secure at the back, but another penalty this time from Benat Etxebarria and Santa Cruz’s second on 49 minutes gave them a comfortable cushion.
Photo: AFP
However, midway through the second half, Betis goalkeeper Casto Espinosa rashly darted off his line and was red-carded for upending Luis Garcia despite having defenders behind him.
A double from Juan Carlos led to some anxious last minutes for Betis, but they held on.
Betis coach Pepe Mel is refusing to get carried away by the impressive run.
“We are 10 points from the drop zone, the team are leading and we are playing well,” Mel said. “These are the only things that I am looking at. We have won the four games we have played so far, but all we can do is look to the next one against Getafe.”
Super-sub Walter Pandiani scored a stoppage-time winner as RCD Espanyol beat Getafe 1-0 and condemned their rivals to their third successive defeat.
Getafe have not won away since January and their confidence was not high after a poor start to the season, but they were up against an Espanyol team who had also suffered two defeats from three games.
There was plenty of toil, but little flowing soccer in the first half, but after the break Espanyol took the game to the visitors.
Javi Marquez saw a deflected shot go just wide and Alberto Lopo blocked a Vladimir Weiss strike on the goal-line, but it was really goalkeeper Miguel Moya who was keeping Espanyol at bay. In particular he did well to stop a Thievy Bifouma shot from close range.
Getafe missed a glaring chance themselves when Juan Valera blazed wide late on, but Espanyol got a deserved win a minute into stoppage-time when Pandiani coolly slotted home in the box.
“This victory gives us a good feeling because, as well as the three points, it is good to get your reward after searching for the goal for so long,” Espanyol coach Mauricio Pochettino said. “We struggled to get in the game during the first half, but after that we dominated completely.”
Spain’s top two continued to not have it their own way in midweek as Barcelona could only draw 2-2 at Valencia, while Real Madrid came away with a 0-0 draw from their trip to Real Racing Club de Santander.
“I never believed it was a case of just two teams in the league, as all the clubs are dangerous. This is still an important point for us as Valencia are a strong team, although it is unfortunate we didn’t get a third goal,” Barca goalkeeper Victor Valdes said.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their