Home
News
In Focus
Business
Metro
Nation
World
Sports
Feature
Opinion
View more »Opinion Columns
Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
Restaurants get off to a quick start thanks to game-changing policies
High service charges on event ticket refunds call for further regulation
Sunday
- Subscribe
Related News
Barca, Real continue awesome start
Source: Agencies |
September 28, 2009, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BARCELONA and Real Madrid maintained their perfect La Liga starts on Saturday, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic setting the champion on its way to a 2-0 victory at Malaga and Real winning 3-0 at home to Tenerife.
Real made it five wins out of five thanks to a Karim Benzema double and a sublime curler from Kaka and leads with 15 points, ahead of Barcelona on goal difference.
Sevilla, which won 4-0 at Athletic Bilbao, is third on 12, while substitute Maxi Rodriguez struck in added time to earn struggling Atletico Madrid a 2-2 draw at Valencia. Valencia is fifth with eight points, while Atletico is 18th with three points.
Ibrahimovic needed just 10 minutes to score his fifth goal in five games after coming off the bench for the injured Thierry Henry in the 29th minute of a bad-tempered clash.
Lionel Messi lifted the ball over the static Malaga defense and the Sweden striker controlled with his chest and fired in.
Defender Gerard Pique poked home a Xavi freekick three minutes after replacing Dmytro Chygrynskiy, who appeared to have picked up a knee problem, in the 56th.
In a match littered with yellow cards, Malaga defender Weligton looked fortunate to stay on the pitch after TV replays showed him treading on Messi's ankle.
The referee later sent Barca assistant coach Tito Vilanova off the bench for protesting a decision and with five minutes to go showed Malaga forward Albert Luque a straight red card for a wild challenge on Daniel Alves.
"It was a very aggressive match that took a lot out of us," Barca coach Pep Guardiola told a news conference.
Brazilian playmaker Kaka, a second-half substitute earlier at the Bernabeu, bent in a stunning shot to end any hopes of a fightback from promoted Tenerife after France striker Benzema had netted twice in 11 second-half minutes.
Tenerife is dubbed Real's "Cursed Island" by the Spanish media after the Canary Islanders twice deprived the Madrid club of the league title in the early 1990s.
After a closely-fought first half with few clear chances, Benzema rose early in the second period to nod in Xabi Alonso's cross and then outmuscled defender Manuel Martinez and curled a precise shot into the far corner.
"We were very bad in general in the first half and the substitutions obviously helped," Real coach Manuel Pellegrini said.
"It was clear that Kaka gave the team a boost but we have a Champions League match (against Olympique Marseille on Wednesday) and we tried to win the game with him."
In France, a late Bafetimbi Gomis goal gave Olympique Lyon a 2-1 home win over Toulouse to send the seven-time champion to the top of Ligue 1 on Saturday.
France forward Gomis struck from close range on 72 minutes to give Lyon 17 points from seven games, one point ahead of champion Girondins Bordeaux which was hosting Stade Rennes yesterday.
Third-placed Olympique Marseille, on 14 points, suffered its first league defeat this season when it lost 2-3 at Valenciennes.
Elsewhere, it was Paris Saint-Germain 1, Lorient 1; Montpellier 1, Boulogne 0; Saint-Etienne 2, Monaco 1; Nancy 2, Sochaux 1; and Auxerre 2, Grenoble 0.
Real made it five wins out of five thanks to a Karim Benzema double and a sublime curler from Kaka and leads with 15 points, ahead of Barcelona on goal difference.
Sevilla, which won 4-0 at Athletic Bilbao, is third on 12, while substitute Maxi Rodriguez struck in added time to earn struggling Atletico Madrid a 2-2 draw at Valencia. Valencia is fifth with eight points, while Atletico is 18th with three points.
Ibrahimovic needed just 10 minutes to score his fifth goal in five games after coming off the bench for the injured Thierry Henry in the 29th minute of a bad-tempered clash.
Lionel Messi lifted the ball over the static Malaga defense and the Sweden striker controlled with his chest and fired in.
Defender Gerard Pique poked home a Xavi freekick three minutes after replacing Dmytro Chygrynskiy, who appeared to have picked up a knee problem, in the 56th.
In a match littered with yellow cards, Malaga defender Weligton looked fortunate to stay on the pitch after TV replays showed him treading on Messi's ankle.
The referee later sent Barca assistant coach Tito Vilanova off the bench for protesting a decision and with five minutes to go showed Malaga forward Albert Luque a straight red card for a wild challenge on Daniel Alves.
"It was a very aggressive match that took a lot out of us," Barca coach Pep Guardiola told a news conference.
Brazilian playmaker Kaka, a second-half substitute earlier at the Bernabeu, bent in a stunning shot to end any hopes of a fightback from promoted Tenerife after France striker Benzema had netted twice in 11 second-half minutes.
Tenerife is dubbed Real's "Cursed Island" by the Spanish media after the Canary Islanders twice deprived the Madrid club of the league title in the early 1990s.
After a closely-fought first half with few clear chances, Benzema rose early in the second period to nod in Xabi Alonso's cross and then outmuscled defender Manuel Martinez and curled a precise shot into the far corner.
"We were very bad in general in the first half and the substitutions obviously helped," Real coach Manuel Pellegrini said.
"It was clear that Kaka gave the team a boost but we have a Champions League match (against Olympique Marseille on Wednesday) and we tried to win the game with him."
In France, a late Bafetimbi Gomis goal gave Olympique Lyon a 2-1 home win over Toulouse to send the seven-time champion to the top of Ligue 1 on Saturday.
France forward Gomis struck from close range on 72 minutes to give Lyon 17 points from seven games, one point ahead of champion Girondins Bordeaux which was hosting Stade Rennes yesterday.
Third-placed Olympique Marseille, on 14 points, suffered its first league defeat this season when it lost 2-3 at Valenciennes.
Elsewhere, it was Paris Saint-Germain 1, Lorient 1; Montpellier 1, Boulogne 0; Saint-Etienne 2, Monaco 1; Nancy 2, Sochaux 1; and Auxerre 2, Grenoble 0.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
