Madrid stay ahead of Barca, as Espanyol and Atletico move up
There was a goal glut in the Spanish La Liga this weekend, as the top two thrashed their opponents by whopping margins and Espanyol climbed up to fourth spot with a convincing 3-0 win over David Trezeguet’s newly promoted Hercules.
Espanyol, Atletico move up as Sevilla continue to slide
Espanyol have been unbeaten at home this season, and they continued their impressive home form with a clinical display against Hercules. Joan Verdu opened the scoring on the night in the 15th minute when he scored from close range, following
a blistering counter attack by the home side.
The match was a dull affair after the first goal as both sides failed to breakthrough each other’s defences, but it all livened up in the second half as Espanyol were awarded two spot kicks late in the game. Pablo Osyaldo and Luis Garcia
both converted from the spot to give their side an easy win.
Sevilla continued their dismal form in the league, as Real Mallorca closed the gap on the Andalusians by defeating them 2-1 at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.
Michael Pereira gave the away side an expected lead in the 36th
minute, finishing from close range, but Luis Fabiano looked to have salvaged at least a point for his side when he equalized two minutes from time. Pierre Webo was the hero for Mallorca, as he made sure the gap between his side and Sevilla was cut to
only points, when he grabbed a winner for in injury time.
Atletico continued their topsy turvy season with a 4-2 thrashing of Real Sociedad. Joseba Llorente gave Sociedad the lead in the first half, but a late flurry of goals meant that Atletico continued their climb up the table. Sergio Aguero
bagged a brace and Diego Forlan scored one as Atletico ran riot in the second half to move to sixth place in the La Liga standings.
In another match Manuel Pellegrini saw his winning run ended by Deportivo La Cruna, as Malaga suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat. An Adrian penalty and one each from Daniel Colotto and Nunez Pablo Alvarez made sure of Deportivo’s win.
Levante climbed out of the relegation zone after Felipe Caicedo bagged two goals to help his side beat Racing Santander 3-1 at home.
In the last game of the weekend, Ossasuna beat Sporting Gijon 1-0 courtesy a goal from Massoud Shojaei.
The Ronaldo and Messi Show
Earlier on Saturday Real Madrid and Barcelona toyed with their opponents as Ronaldo and Messi bagged hat tricks for their respective sides. Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 5-1 while Barcelona mauled Almeria 8-0 away from home.
Higuain opened the flood gates for Madrid as early as the 19th minute, when he scored from close range and 11 minutes later Mesut Ozil played in Ronaldo, who finished with sublime ease.
Fernando Llorente then reduced the arrears, making it 2-1 before half time, but two more goals from Ronaldo and one from Sergio Ramos in the second half made sure that Real go into next week’s El Classico with a one point lead over their bitter rivals.
Lionel Messi matched Ronaldo’s hat-trick at the weekend, as his side steamrolled past Almeria. Messi and Andres Iniesta scored within minutes of each other to get the goal fest started in the 17th minute. Santiago Acasiete then put on into the back of his
own net, before Pedro and Messi made it 5-0 going into the break. Bojan Krikic bagged a second half brace, while Messi completed his hat trick to maintain pressure on Real Madrid going into the big game in Barcelona next week.
In an earlier game Villareal and Valencia played out a 1-1 draw, in which a Giuseppe Rossi strike cancelled out a goal from Artiz Aduriz.
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