First division - day 4
Leaders Real Madrid
lost their first points of the season after they were held to a 1-1 draw by
Valladolid on Sunday night. Pedro López gave the newly promoted
team the lead with a spectacular long shot twenty minutes from the end. But
Guti produced a defence splitting pass with five minutes to go, allowing Van
Nistelrooy to slip the ball across to substitute Saviola for him to equalise
with virtually his first touch since coming on.
Madrid stay a point ahead of
Villarreal, who move up to second place thanks to a 2-0 victory over
Murcia. The game seemed to be heading for a draw when local coach
Pellegrini brought on Rossi. And the ex Manchester United striker scored twice
in the last six minutes to tie up the three points for his side, the first
after picking up a return pass from Senna and the second following a cross from
Mati Fernández.
Valencia are level
with Villarreal though after beating Betis 1-2. Quique Flores rested
several key players, but Miguel cut through from the half way line to shoot
wide of Ricardo midway through the second half, and Joaquín made it two
a few minutes later, a goal he refused to celebrate out of respect for his old
fans. Sobis got a late consolation, but it was not enough to stop his side
sliding into the bottom three.
Atlético
Madrid are up to sixth place after a 4-0 win over Racing Santander.
Raúl García took advantage of a defensive mistake to open the
scoring early on, and the visitors were left with ten men when Jordi picked up
two bookings within four minutes of coming on as substitute. After that
Agüero, Forlán and Simao added three more to give Javier Aguirre's
side their first league win of the season.
First wins as well this
weekend for Zaragoza and Athletic Bilbao. Zaragoza beat Osasuna
2-1, Milito wining it from the penalty spot after Juanfran had cancelled out
Matuzalem's early strike. Osasuna ended the weekend just above the drop zone,
albeit with a game in hand. And Athletic Bilbao won 1-2 against bottom
club Levante, Aduriz scoring a goal in each half before Riganó
got one back late on. The Italian striker had missed a penalty a few minutes
earlier.
The other two games on
Sunday ended all square, with Getafe paying the price of their first
ever appearance in Europe midweek with a 0-0 draw against Deportivo.
Michael Laudrup's side had the better chances, but were unable to score and
ended the weekend in the relegation spots. Elsewhere Almería and
Mallorca drew 1-1, Mané putting the home side ahead on the half
hour mark but Güiza equalising after the restart. (23.09.07)
Barcelona beat
Sevilla 2-1 on Saturday evening to move up to second in the table. Frank
Rijkaard's side didn't miss the injured Ronaldinho, and had several chances to
open the scoring in the first half. Renato headed against the upright at the
other end before the break, but Henry hit the post before setting up Messi to
volley past Palop with twenty minutes to go. Soon afterwards Messi added the
second from the penalty spot after Pôulsen fouled Giovani, and
Kanouté's late consolation goal came too late to change the result.
Recreativo recorded
their first win of the season after coming from behind to beat Espanyol
2-1. Riera put the Catalans ahead in the sixth minute when he latched on to
Luis García's short free kick to beat Sorrentino. But Javi Guerrero
scored twice in five minutes early in the second half to turn things around,
the first an impressive tight angled volley after lifting the ball past two
defenders, and the second after intercepting a bad back pass from Clemente.
(22.09.07) |