The Hindu : Sport / Football : Raul saves Real Madrid’s blushes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Football

Raul saves Real Madrid’s blushes

AS Roma, Juventus lose after dismissals; Valencia downs Valladolid

MADRID: Raul Gonzalez scored a brace as Real Madrid rallied for a 2-2 draw with Espanyol, while Manuel Fernandes’ second-half goal gave Valencia a 1-0 victory at Valladolid to reclaim top spot in the Spanish football league and Sevilla used an emphatic win to stay with the leaders on Sunday.

Meanwhile in Italy, nine-man AS Roma suffered its third defeat of the Serie ‘A’ season when it went down 1-0 at Siena, while Juventus also remain off the pace following a 2-1 home defeat by Palermo.

Fernandes scores

Portugal midfielder Fernandes took David Villa’s back-heel pass and sent the ball low into the net in the 54th minute. The win gave Valencia 16 points and it leads Villarreal on goal difference.

Earlier, Sevilla trounced Athletic Bilbao 4-0 for its third straight league win to trail the leaders by two points.

Sevilla has 14 points after an impressive start, while Madrid joined FC Barcelona at 13.

Raul Tamudo and Luis Garcia twice gave Espanyol the lead, but Raul replied for the Spanish champion each time to stretch Madrid’s unbeaten streak to seven games in all competitions and deny Espanyol its first win at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in 12 years.

Madrid rallies

Raul rallied Madrid four minutes later by heading Sergio Ramos’ cross low into goal.

Espanyol’s quick counterattacks troubled Madrid throughout and Roman Martinez skidded a pass across goal — and three Madrid defenders — for Luis Garcia to toe in at the far post for another lead in the 31st.

Garcia nearly scored a second in the 39th with an in-swinging free-kick off the near post, but Mahamadou Diarra cleared the danger away after Ramos nearly rolled the rebound into his own goal.

Raul, who curled a left-footer just wide in the 41st, was accounting for Madrid’s offence and the Spanish striker took Rafael van der Vaart’s pass inside the area to slot under goalkeeper Carlos Kameni just before the interval.

Pepe appeared to get away with a hard nudge that flattened the streaking Nene inside the area before the hour mark.

Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder, making his first appearance of the season after recovering from a knee injury, appeared in the second half and Madrid’s offence finally awoke to force Kameni into close-range reaction saves in the 61st and 66th.

Madrid appealed for a penalty after Moises Hurtado appeared to handle Sneijder’s injury-time free-kick inside the area.

With Spain coach Vicente del Bosque looking on, Almeria striker Alvaro Negredo headed home his fifth goal of the season in the 87th before defender Jose Manuel “Chico” Flores equalised with an injury-time header.

Ikechukwu Uche and Javier Casquero scored within three minutes to give Getafe a two-goal advantage with 18 minutes to play.

At the Nuevo Colombino Stadium, Portuguese striker Eliseu scored two goals, Nabil Baha headed in a corner and Duda scored on a counter-attack in Malaga’s impressive away win.

Sunday’s results:

Spanish league: Real Madrid 2 (Raul 25, 47) drew with Espanyol 2 (Raul Tamudo 21-pen, Luis Garcia 31); Real Valladolid 0 lost to Valencia 1 (Manuel Fernandes 54); Deportivo de La Coruna 1 (Angel Lafita 13) bt Numancia 0.

Getafe 2 (Ikechukwu Uche 68, Francisco Casquero 71) drew with Almeria 2 (Alvaro Negredo 87, Chico 91); Osasuna 0 lost to Racing Santander 1 (Juan Valera 92); Real Mallorca 0 lost to Sporting Gijon 2 (Carmelo 12, Roberto Canella 50).

Recreativo Huelva 0 lost to Malaga 4 (Eliseu 1, 62, Nabil Baha 40, Duda 48); Sevilla 4 (Frederic Kanoute 26, Renato 40, Adriano Correia 76, Ernesto Chevanton 81) bt Athletic Bilbao 0.

Italian Serie ‘A’: Atalanta 4 (Floccari 35, 77, Garics 39, Doni 83) bt Sampdoria 2 (Cassano 7, 54-pen); Cagliari 0 drew with AC Milan 0; Chievo 0 lost to Fiorentina 2 (Kuzmanovic 32, Gilardino 74); Genoa 3 (Papastathopoulos 44, Palladino 52, Milito 73) bt Napoli 2 (Lavezzi 1, Denis 75).

Juventus 1 (Del Piero 39) lost to Palermo 2 (Miccoli 24, Mchedlidze 81); Reggina 1 (Costa 80) drew with Catania 1 (Paolucci 69); Siena 1 (Frick 45) bt AS Roma 0; Udinese 2 (Quagliarella 44, 77) bt Torino 0. — Agencies

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport