Monday, November 2, 2009

Primera Liga round-up

Primera Liga round-up

Barcelona saw two points slip through their grasp in dramatic fashion on Saturday.

Elsewhere, Real Madrid returned to winning ways and are now just a point adrift of their Catalan rivals at the top of the table.

Barcelona appeared destined to take maximum points from their trip to Osasuna, but were ultimately forced to settle for a 1-1 draw.

Pep Guardiola's side struggled for long periods at Reyno de Navarra, but in-form Seydou Keita eventually fired them in front 18 minutes from time.

That looked to be enough for the visitors, but an unfortunate own goal from Gerard Pique deep into stoppage time hauled the scores level.

That result will have been welcomed at Santiago Bernabeu after Real Madrid closed the gap at the summit with a 2-0 success over city neighbours Getafe.

Manuel Pellegrini had seen his position as coach called into question following a tough week for the capital giants, but they responded in fine style this weekend.

They were on the back foot early on and saw their cause severely hindered by the 28th minute dismissal of Raul Albiol.

The hosts rallied, though, and Argentine frontman Gonzalo Higuain stole the headlines as he bagged a quick-fire brace shortly after half time.

Sevilla are now third in the Primera Liga standings after they saw off struggling Xerez 2-0.

Alvaro Negredo and Luis Fabiano got the goals to settle another local derby.

Atletico Madrid's woes continued in their latest outing as they went down 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao.

Quique Sanchez Flores was unfortunate to be on the losing side in his first league match in charge of Atletico after seeing his team hit the woodwork twice during the closing stages.

However, Javi Martinez's 19th minute header did the damage as Athletic were able to hold on.



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