The story appears on

Page A13

April 16, 2010

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeSportsSoccer

Barca six clear after Depor win

BARCELONA took another step towards retaining its La Liga title when goals from Bojan Krkic, Pedro and Yaya Toure fired the Catalans to a 3-0 home win over Deportivo Coruna on Wednesday.

Saturday's 2-0 victory over arch-rival Real Madrid had put Pep Guardiola's side three points clear at the top and its latest crushing triumph extended its advantage to six ahead of Real's match at Almeria.

At a jubilant Nou Camp stadium, mid-table Deportivo became the latest of Barcelona's opponents to spend long periods chasing the ball as the peerless Xavi again ran the show in midfield.

With striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and midfielder Andres Iniesta injured, Guardiola fielded an unfamiliar 4-2-3-1 starting lineup, with Bojan leading the line in front of Lionel Messi, Pedro and Jeffren.

Spain midfielder Xavi cracked open the visitors' defense to release Bojan to score from close range in the 16th minute before a spectacular overhead kick from the energetic Daniel Alves came back off the crossbar. Messi and Rafael Marquez also had efforts cleared off the line by defenders.

Pedro's goal in the 69th was easily the pick of the three.

An attempted clearance from Daniel Aranzubia went straight to the 22-year-old and he lifted a spectacular first-time effort over the Depor goalkeeper and into the empty net from just inside the visitors' half.

Aranzubia had earlier kept Deportivo in the match with saves from Messi, Xavi and Jeffren but was beaten again three minutes later when Toure's powerful strike crashed in off a defender.

"This team fights hard and also tries to put on a spectacle which we have to be grateful for," Barcelona president Joan Laporta said in a television interview.

Barca has 83 points with six matches remaining. Real is on 77 with a game in hand and Valencia trails on 56 in third.

Real Mallorca climbed above Sevilla into Spain's fourth Champions League qualification berth earlier when it drew 1-1 at struggling Zaragoza.

The Balearic Islanders have 52 points to Sevilla's 51 after the Andalucians' 1-2 defeat at relegation threatened Real Valladolid on Tuesday.

Atletico Madrid, which plays the first leg of its Europa League semifinal against Liverpool on April 22, suffered a shock 1-2 loss to Xerez.

A sixth win of the campaign for tiny Xerez, which is making its La Liga debut and has a budget about a 10th the size of Atletico's, puts it on 26 points with six matches left, still six from safety.



 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend