Saturday, November 12, 2011
Primera Liga round-up
Real Madrid maintained their position at the top of the table in the Primera Liga following a 7-1 annihilation of Osasuna at the Santiago Bernabeu. Click below for individual match stats: Real Madrid 7 Osasuna 1 Granada 0 Racing Santander 0 Real Zaragoza 2 Sporting Gijon 2 Espanyol 0 Villarreal 0 Rayo Vallecano 4 Real Sociedad 0 Athletic Bilbao 2 Barcelona 2 Getafe 3 Atletico Madrid 2 Jose Mourinho's side headed into the lunch-time kick-off with a 100 per cent record at home this season and were favourites to muster maximum points. And indeed Los Blancos did so, as they overcame a slightly slow start to virtually wrap up the win inside the first 45 minutes. Cristiano Ronaldo, who was officially presented with the European Golden Boot for his goalscoring exploits in the 2010-11 season on Friday, put Madrid into the lead midway through the first half when he headed home an Angel Di Maria cross from the right wing. Ibrahima Balde briefly restored parity for the visitors from Pamplona on 30 minutes when he slotted home from close range, but the Spanish giants scored two quickfire goals thereafter through Pepe and Gonzalo Higuain before the break. Osasuna defender Eneko Satrustegui was sent off nine minutes into the restart on his league debut following his challenge on Mesut Ozil inside the penalty area, and Ronaldo successfully converted the spot-kick. The Portugal international forward completed his hat-trick just four minutes later and substitute Karim Benzema wrapped up proceedings with goals on 63 and 81 minutes. The 7-1 win means that the nine-time European champions will head into the international break on top of the table in the Spanish first division with 28 points from 11 matches. Barcelona stay second behind Madrid but are now three points off the pace following their 2-2 draw with Athletic Bilbao in the Basque country. In a game that was played on a drenched pitch and amid a downpour, it was Athletic who took the lead after 20 minutes when Ander Herrera found the target. Four minutes later, though, Barca restored parity through Cesc Fabregas, who headed home an Eric Abidal cross. The Spanish champions thought that they had taken the lead on 54 minutes when Messi put the ball into the net but his effort was ruled out because of offside. Then with just 10 minutes remaining on the clock, Barca succumbed to a defensive mix-up as Abidal's attempted clearance went in off Gerard Pique. Athletic were looking to march on to an encouraging 2-1 victory over the Catalan giants at San Mames but Fernando Amorebieta was sent off on 90 minutes. Then moments later in injury time Lionel Messi found himself on the end of a loose ball inside the Athletic penalty area and slotted home with ease. Granada failed to build on their 2-1 away victory over Andalucian rivals Sevilla last week as they were held to a disappointing goalless draw by Racing Santander at home. Ariel Nahuelpan was sent off for the visitors on 87 minutes. Two other struggling sides Real Zaragoza and Sporting Gijon also played out a draw on Sunday to remain in or around the relegation zone. Zaragoza went ahead in front of their supporters on 28 minutes through an Alberto Botia own goal, but conceded the equaliser to David Barral just a couple of minutes later. Barral netted his second goal of the afternoon on 44 minutes to give Sporting the advantage at the break, but a late goal from Helder Postiga saw the hosts salvage a point, as the encounter at La Romareda ended in a 2-2 draw. Basque giants Real Sociedad suffered their sixth defeat in seven matches as they went down 4-0 to Rayo Vallecano at Las Vallecas. La Real went behind as early as the 12th minute when Piti successfully converted a penalty for the Madrid outfit and although they went into the half-time interval with the chance of a comeback, three goals in the second period from the hosts consigned them to more misery. Miguel Perez Cuesta scored Rayo's second goal on 49 minutes and added a further just after the hour mark. Then on 72 minutes Roberto Trashorras found the target to wrap up a comprehensive win for his team and see them move further away from the dropzone. Meanwhile, Villarreal continued to lag as they failed to score in Barcelona and had to settle for a goalless draw with Espanyol despite the home side playing the last 15 minutes with 10 men following the dismissal of Juan Forlin. In the late game on Sunday, 10-man Getafe registered a marvellous 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid in the Madrid derby to give themselves hope of relegation survival. However, it was Atletico who broke the deadlock at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez on the half hour mark. Alberto Lopo brought down Diego inside the Getafe penalty area and was promptly sent off, with Radamel Falcao making no mistake from the spot. But 10 minutes later Abdelaziz Barrada restored parity and four minutes into the second half Getafe went ahead through Michel. In what was proving to be an entertaining affair, Alvaro Dominguez equalised for the visitors in the 80th minute, but three minutes later Getafe earned a spot-kick that was slotted home by Diego Castro.