Spanish La Liga Round Twenty Five
Saturday 28th February 2009
Real Madrid won 2-0 at Espanyol, to keep the pressure on Barcelona. Despite not being at their best, they took the lead in the 67th minute, through substitute Guti scoring. Raul scored Real’s second in the 72nd minute, to secure all three valuable points. Sevilla also won, beating Athletic Bilbao 2-1 in Bilbao. Bilbao started the stronger and took the lead in the in the 27th minute, Igor Gabilondo beating Palop with a low effort. Fredi Kanoute equalised for the away side in the 39th minute, smashing home a Mosquera cross. Kanoute scored his second in the 58th minute, the striker firing home from a Romaric through ball.
Sunday 1st March 2009
Atletico Madrid beat Barcelona 4-3 at the Vicente Calderon, in an enthralling encounter. Thierry Henry gave Barca the lead with a sensational long range curling effort. Lionel Messi doubled the lead in the 30th minute, after a goal ball by Samuel Eto’o. Diego Forlan smashed Atletico back into the game in the 32nd minute with superb effort. Sergio Aguero slotted home the equaliser in the 56th minute. Barca regained the lead in the 74th minute, as Eidur Gudjohnsen broke the offside trap and gave the ball to Henry for a tap in. Diego Forlan equalised for Atletico from the penalty spot, after lots of confusion. Sergio ‘Kun’ Aguero scored the winner in the dying minutes, finishing past Valdes after a lucky break off Puyol. This victory was Atletico’s first victory in 2009 and it leaves Barca only four points clear of Real at the top.
Deportivo La Coruna continued their challenge for a European place by winning 1-0 at Numancia, Juan Rodriguez scoring the only goal with fifteen minutes remaining. The win moves Depor up to seventh place in La Liga and leaves Numancia bottom. Recreativo recorded a shock 2-0 away victory to Malaga. Manuel Ortiz Lolo received a red card in the 35th minute for Malaga and the home side couldn’t repel Recre. Javier Cumanas put the away side into the lead on 54 minutes. Adrian Colunga doubled the lead in the 64th minute to secure all three points.
Mallorca scored an away victory beating Sporting Gijon 1-0. Juan Arango gave the away side the lead in the 49th minute. The three points may prove valuable as it took Mallorca out of the drop zone on goal difference. Racing Santander drew 1-1 with Osasuna at home. Racing took the lead in the 13th minute through Oscar Serrano. Walter Pandiani rescued a point for the away side just before half-time. Osasuna now drop into the relegation zone, after Mallorca’s win. Almeria beat Getafe 2-1 at the Estadio Del Mediterraneo. Joffre Guerron gave Getafe the lead after eight minutes, but Alvaro Negredo put the home side level in the 17th minute. Negredo scored his brace in the 65th minute, to give the away side a crucial three points.
Real Betis drew 2-2 with Villarreal in Seville. The away side took a two goal lead. Santi Cazorla gave the Yellow Submarines the lead in the sixth minute; he then doubled that lead in the 36th minute. Betis got back in the game in the 42nd minute through Ricardo Oliveira and the same player scored their equaliser in the 57th minute. The result leaves Real Betis only two points off the relegation zone. Villarreal are in the fourth, three points clear of fifth place Atletico Madrid
Premiership Match Reports Wk27
Saturday 28th Febuary
Everton 2-0 WBA
Everton did not let the home crowd feel the absence of Arteta and produced yet another glorious display to move within 2 points of 5th placed Arsenal. Unmarked Tim Cahill guided a tough corner kick with a terrific header in the 36th minute to give Everton the lead. Attacks from West Brom broke into a submission and second half was completely dominated by the Toffees. Saha was brought on in the second half after a long gap of injury. He showed magical touch of his United days and produced a stunner left footed goal in the far left corner to make it 2-0. WBA is surely on their way to relegation.
Arsenal 0-0 Fulham
Arsenal yet again failed to score at home and produced a miserable display that ended in a 4th consecutive goalless draw. Van Persie’s power kicks were saved by Fulham’s inspirational defensive man, Schwarzer. Arshavin played really well to feed Persie with pin point passes but Arsenal could not gain anything. Diaby’s 71st minute header was again stopped by Schwarzer as Arsenal came agonizingly close to scoring yet another time. Arsenal lay at lowly 5th place and hopes of Champions League are simply fading away.
Chelsea 2-1 Wigan Athletic
John Terry scored after a long time in EPL to give Chelsea the much needed lead. They came close on several occasions to make matters worse for Wigan but could not steer the ball past Kirkland. Hiddink’s faint title hopes fell into dungeons when Kapo levelled the terms in the 82nd minute. Things became competitive in the injury time. A long clearance was received by Ballack who flicked it and Chelsea’s Mr.Dependable, Lampard rose to the occasion again. He got ahead of Melchiot to guide a header past Kirkland to become the night winners. Chelsea moved into 2nd place after a long time.
Middlesbrough 2-0 Liverpool
The home team’s survival hopes got alive whereas Liverpool’s title hopes faded as they suffered one of the worst season-defeats. An own goal by Xabi Alonso threatened another away draw since everyone expected them to score. Liverpool tried everything to get the equalizer but things got worse. Tuncay Sanli and Downing paired up in the second half to finish the domination of visitors. O’Neil’s pass found Aliadiere who passed it to Tuncay. His bottom corner shot couldn’t be saved and the match ended with unbelievable scoreline of 2-0.
Sunday 1st March
Hull City 1-2 Blackburn
Rovers snatched the away game from Tigers in the starting minutes of the first half as an inspiring display from Warnock helped Blackburn gain the three important points and move out of the relegation zone. Matt Duke made an error in the box and Warnock slashed it past the goalkeeper. A few minutes later he provided a pass to Andrews to make it 0-2. The second half saw 2 red cards, 1 each to every side. With 10 men on both sides, Ashbee pulled one back for the home crowd but it was too late for a fightback. Hull City now stands just 3 points clear of the relegation zone.
West Ham 1-0 Man City
West Ham produced yet another miser defence performance to keep Robinho and party at bay and registered 3 important points. The first half was dull with both sides making half-hearted efforts. The second half was more fascinating as Cole and Di Michele went for the goal several times. Finally in the 71st minute, Collison fired one past City’s defence. Cole came agonizingly close to stretching the lead to 2-0 but was denied by some good goalkeeping. A late free kick almost made it 1-1 when Elano’s kick struck the post.
Bolton 1-0 Newcastle
Bolton produced a wonderful display of football skills to achieve a position in the top 10 after a really long time. The first half produced no great efforts or challenges as both teams kept their nets and yellow card basket clean. Muamba was substituted in the second half for Gardner and a minute later Gardner scores through a first time effort to make it 1-0. Taylor provided the pass for this goal-seeking move. Newcastle got into a quick groove after Geremi was brought on. 3 shots on target were saved by the Bolton defence line to keep Magpies at bay.
Aston Villa 2-2 Stoke City
Aston Villa made a mockery in the last 5 minutes to give away a 2 goal lead and end up the match as a draw. Villa dominated the whole match from the word ‘go’. Petrov was in sublime touch as he shot across the Stoke’s keeper in the 46th minute of the first half and got the lead for the home team. In the 79th minute new substitute Carew made the scoreline 2-0 and it was all over. Shawcross then sprung into action to pull 1 back for visitors before Whelan shot it past Friedel at the edge of the box. A frustrating 2-2 draw for Martin O’Neil, avoiding which could have brought them really close to 2nd and 3rd spot.
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