Barcelona recovered from their midweek defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League as goals from Lionel Messi and Neymar handed them a comfortable 2-0 win away to nine-man Rayo Vallecano de Madrid in La Liga on Saturday.
Valencia remained just two points behind the Catalan club at the top of the table with a 3-1 win over champions Atletico Madrid, thanks to three goals in the opening 13 minutes.
After resisting some early pressure from Rayo, Barcelona killed the game off with two goals in as many minutes just after the half-hour mark as Messi and Neymar took advantage of the hosts’ high line to continued their fine goalscoring form.
Photo: AFP
Rayo were reduced to nine men after halftime after Jorge Morcillo and Javier Aquino were shown second yellow cards and Barca saw the game out to preserve their record of not conceding so far this season in La Liga.
Barca now lead third-placed Atletico by five points and Real Madrid by seven, but Real had the chance to cut the gap when they faced Athletic Bilbao at the Santiago Bernabeu yesterday.
Claudio Bravo now holds the record for an unbeaten start to a La Liga season and Barca’s Chilean goalkeeper needed to be at his best early on to prevent Alberto Bueno firing Rayo into the lead at the Campo de Futbol de Vallecas.
However, Barca boss Luis Enrique dismissed the importance of Bravo’s 630-minute run without conceding: “The only statistics that interest me are at the end of the season that will say whether we have deserved to win the title,” he said.
Rayo’s offside trap was being breached regularly as the half wore on and moments after Messi had a goal ruled out, the Argentine showed great composure to dink the ball over the advancing Tono to open the scoring.
Barca doubled their advantage a minute later as this time Munir El Hadaddi fed Neymar and the Brazilian took his time before drilling the ball into the far corner.
Rayo could have been back in the game early after the restart had it not been for another fine save from Bravo to deny Leo Baptistao.
However, any hope for Paco Jemez’s men was ended when Morcillo was given his marching orders for an unnecessary lunge from behind on Neymar.
Messi then missed a number of chances to add to his tally in the final quarter, leaving him still just two goals shy of Telmo Zarra’s all-time La Liga goals record of 251, before a disappointing afternoon for the hosts was rounded off when Aquino was also sent off for a late challenge on Sergio Busquets.
Meanwhile, Atletico paid for their efforts in beating Italian champions Juventus in their midweek Champions League clash as a Miranda own-goal, Andre Gomes’ strike and a Nicolas Otamendi header gave Valencia a dream start at their Estadio Mestalla.
Mario Mandzukic reduced the arrears on the half-hour mark, but any hopes of an Atletico comeback were halted when Diego Alves saved Guillherme Siqueira’s tame penalty just before halftime and they ended the match with 10 men as substitute Alessio Cerci was sent off in stoppage-time.
“Valencia started very strongly and we made mistakes that we don’t usually make,” Atletico boss Diego Simeone said. “After that Atletico played very well and they didn’t have any more chances. If we had scored the penalty, perhaps it would have been different.”
Valencia coach Nuno Espirito Santo refused to specify what he would deem as success for his side come the end of the season, but believes they can get even better, with star summer signing Alvaro Negredo set to return from injury after the upcoming international break.
“Our objective is to keep growing and keep improving as individuals and as a team. Today is a great day for us, but I am very optimistic and I think we will improve,” he said.
In the day’s remaining matches, Sociedad Deportiva Eibar scored in the third minute of added time to draw Levante UD 3-3, while Malaga beat Granada 2-1 and UD Almeria relied on an 84th-minute strike to pull level with Elche in their 2-2 clash.
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
The Greek basketball league finals between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos were suspended by the government on Monday following on-court scuffles involving rival security teams. The best-of-five series is at 1-1. The third game, scheduled for today, has been postponed. The owners of both clubs were summoned to meet with the country’s sports minister. They “will be asked to provide explicit guarantees that this situation will be brought to an end. If not, this year’s championship will be definitively canceled,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said. “There can be no tolerance for such pathological phenomena of violence and delinquency.” In online posts, the owners of Panathinaikos and
Defender Steph Catley says her UEFA Women’s Champions League title win with Arsenal last week will act as motivation to secure continental glory with Australia when the country hosts the Women’s Asian Cup next year. Catley and compatriots Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross were part of the Arsenal squad that defeated Barcelona in Lisbon on Sunday last week, before flying to Melbourne to feature in the Matildas’ 2-0 win over Argentina on Friday. The game was the first in a two-match series against the South Americans as the Australians continue preparations for the continental championship in March next year, when they would
RSS