Saturday, March 14, 2009

Primera Liga round-up

Primera Liga round-up
Barcelona lead La Liga by six points after beating Athletic Bilbao, while Real Madrid were held by city rivals Atletico Madrid.

Two first-half goals from Sergi Busquets and Lionel Messi gave Barcelona victory over Athletic Bilbao - their first league win in five attempts.

Busquets scored in the 18th minute with a close range header from a Xavi cross before Messi then doubled the advantage from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute after Carlos Gurpegui fouled Andres Iniesta.

Second-placed Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw by Atletico Madrid in the Bernabeu - a result which halted a run of ten successive wins for Los Merengues in the league.

Diego Forlan put Atletico ahead in the 38th minute with a strike into the bottom left corner.

But Real hit back in the 57th minute via Klass Jan-Huntelaar to claim a share of the spoils.

Meanwhile, Villarreal cemented their fourth place in the table with a 1-0 victory over second-from-bottom Espanyol in the top flight's final game on Saturday.

The home side won via a Fabricio Fuentes goal on 20 minutes.




CONCACAF Champions League roundup
Liga round-up
Copa del Rey round-up
Preseason roundup: PK lifts Red Bulls