Little Levante sits with Barca
Source: Agencies |
October 18, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
LEVANTE extended its remarkable early-season run by beating 10-man Malaga 3-0 on Sunday to rejoin champion Barcelona at the top of La Liga.
The tiny Valencia-based club, whose annual budget of around 20 million euros (US$27.7 million) is dwarfed by Barcelona's approximate 500 million euros, took the lead through Jose Barkero in the 14th minute before Malaga goalkeeper Willy Caballero was shown a straight red card for handling outside his area.
His replacement Ruben Martinez saved the resulting free kick but Juanlu Gomez, one of a slew of Levante players over 30 years old, was quickest to react and poked the loose ball in to double the home side's lead with just over half an hour gone.
A Ruben howler gifted Levante a third in the 41st when he failed to clear and Arouna Kone, who scored the only goal in Levante's shock 1-0 win over Real Madrid last month, broke clear to tap the ball into an empty net.
Levante's fifth successive victory put it level on 17 points with Barcelona, which is top on goal difference after seven matches.
Free-spending
Ambitious and free-spending Malaga, owned by a member of the Qatar royal family and with a budget of around 150 million euros, is sixth on 13 points.
Levante's coach Juan Ignacio Martinez told a news conference it was important to remain realistic about what the club could achieve this season and said avoiding relegation was still the main objective.
"We have to enjoy this but we know that the league is very long and we are bound to suffer accumulating points," he said. "We will achieve our goal of 42 points (to avoid relegation) in April, although hopefully I am wrong about that."
Barcelona and Levante have a one-point lead over Real.
Sevilla climbed to fourth after its 2-1 win at home to struggling Sporting Gijon in Sunday's late kickoff, Manu Del Moral smashing a long-distance effort into the top corner in the 15th at the Sanchez Pizjuan and Martin Caceres nodding a second early in the second half.
In Italy, Miroslav Klose scored deep into stoppage time to give Lazio a 2-1 derby win over 10-man AS Roma on Sunday and bring some drama to Serie A on a day when five of the seven matches ended goalless.
In doing so, Lazio ended a run of five successive defeats against Roma, four in the League and one in the Cup, the last four of them under coach Edoardo Reja.
Pablo Osvaldo gave Luis Enrique's Roma an early lead before Hernanes leveled early in the second half with a controversial penalty which also resulted in Roma's Simon Kjaer being sent off.
Juventus and Udinese stayed level at the top of Serie A after Juventus' visit to Chievo and Udinese's trip to Atalanta were among the 0-0 draws.
The tiny Valencia-based club, whose annual budget of around 20 million euros (US$27.7 million) is dwarfed by Barcelona's approximate 500 million euros, took the lead through Jose Barkero in the 14th minute before Malaga goalkeeper Willy Caballero was shown a straight red card for handling outside his area.
His replacement Ruben Martinez saved the resulting free kick but Juanlu Gomez, one of a slew of Levante players over 30 years old, was quickest to react and poked the loose ball in to double the home side's lead with just over half an hour gone.
A Ruben howler gifted Levante a third in the 41st when he failed to clear and Arouna Kone, who scored the only goal in Levante's shock 1-0 win over Real Madrid last month, broke clear to tap the ball into an empty net.
Levante's fifth successive victory put it level on 17 points with Barcelona, which is top on goal difference after seven matches.
Free-spending
Ambitious and free-spending Malaga, owned by a member of the Qatar royal family and with a budget of around 150 million euros, is sixth on 13 points.
Levante's coach Juan Ignacio Martinez told a news conference it was important to remain realistic about what the club could achieve this season and said avoiding relegation was still the main objective.
"We have to enjoy this but we know that the league is very long and we are bound to suffer accumulating points," he said. "We will achieve our goal of 42 points (to avoid relegation) in April, although hopefully I am wrong about that."
Barcelona and Levante have a one-point lead over Real.
Sevilla climbed to fourth after its 2-1 win at home to struggling Sporting Gijon in Sunday's late kickoff, Manu Del Moral smashing a long-distance effort into the top corner in the 15th at the Sanchez Pizjuan and Martin Caceres nodding a second early in the second half.
In Italy, Miroslav Klose scored deep into stoppage time to give Lazio a 2-1 derby win over 10-man AS Roma on Sunday and bring some drama to Serie A on a day when five of the seven matches ended goalless.
In doing so, Lazio ended a run of five successive defeats against Roma, four in the League and one in the Cup, the last four of them under coach Edoardo Reja.
Pablo Osvaldo gave Luis Enrique's Roma an early lead before Hernanes leveled early in the second half with a controversial penalty which also resulted in Roma's Simon Kjaer being sent off.
Juventus and Udinese stayed level at the top of Serie A after Juventus' visit to Chievo and Udinese's trip to Atalanta were among the 0-0 draws.
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