Football Update: Spanish La Liga- Barcelona open a 4 points lead at the top of the table as Almeria hold Real Madrid to a draw
For the first time in four weeks the top two in the Spanish La Liga did not win http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/AS-Real-c38478 Madrid were shocking held to a draw by minnows Almeria giving Barcelona a chance to open a four point gap at the top of the table.
Barcelona and Real Madrid have both been in inspirational form leading to this week in the La Liga and had been dispatching their opponents with remarkable ease but last night Real slipped up in the race handing initiative to Barcelona.
Barcelona continued their sublime form in the league as they piled on the misery on a woeful Malaga side to beat the visitors 4-1 at the Camp Nou.
Going into the match Barcelona led Real Madrid by only two points but after the match, the gap was widened to 4 points curtsey a scintillating performance by the home side at Camp Nou.
Guardiola’s side started the match at a blistering pace and their intent was clear from kick off as they bombarded the Malaga goal with shots after shots in the opening five minutes.
Barcelona were rewarded for their display as early as the 8th minute when they took the lead through Andres Iniesta.
Iniesta found himself in space just outside the box and his well placed shot gave the keeper no chance and Barcelona were up and running.
Barcelona then went close to scoring again but Xavi’s shot bounced off the crossbar but soon after that http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Villa-c10629 doubled the lead when he latched on to a defence splitting through ball by Messi and easily slotted past the keeper.
Malaga appeared to be out of sorts and had no answers to Barcelona’s brisk attacking display and soon found themselves 3 behind when Pedro stabbed home from close ranger after Iniesta’s shot was blocked.
The visitors did score a consolation goal through Duda but it mattered little as Villa scored one more in the second half to see his side sail past the challenge posed by Malaga.
Earlier on Sunday Real Madrid failed to temporarily climb to the summit of La Liga when they failed to beat newly promoted side Malaga and could only muster a 1-1 draw away from home.
The first half in the match was a drab affair as both the sides fired blank but the 9000 travelling Los Blancos fans were stunned when Leonardo Ulloa's sophisticated finish gave the home side an advantage with 30 minutes still to play.
The home side however were unable to hold on to the slender lead as 13 minutes from time http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Esteban-Granero-c12919 levelled the matters with a thumping shot.
The twinkle toed Cristiano almost won the match for his side in injury time but he swerving free kick crashed against the post.
In another match on Sunday, Valencia defeated Deportivo La Cruna 2-0 at the Mestella to maintain their pursuit of a Champions League place.
The win was the fourth consecutive for the home side as they are now only two points behind third place Villarreal who won at Ossusuna on Saturday.
Valencia were the better side through the first half but failed to find the back of the net.
After the match both the teams upped the tempo and the visitors should have taken the lead through http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lassad-Nouioui-c21686, but the striker fired his shot straight at the keeper.
The deadlock was finally broken 12 minutes before the final whistle when Mathieu slammed the ball home from close range and Pablo Hernandez added one more in injury time to give the score-line a comfortable look but it was anything but for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Valencia-c40863.
The results on Sunday were as follows:
Barcelona 4 Malaga 1
Valencia 2 Deportivo 0
Almeria 1 Real Madrid 1
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