Monday, November 17, 2008

La Liga Week 11 Wrapup


1-0 REAL VALLADOLID v REAL MADRID (Estadio Nuevo José Zorrilla)

Last weekend Valladolid was dismantled from the hands of Barcelona by losing them to 6-0. But in Estadio Nuevo José Zorrilla was different story for Valladolid. Its simple, it was Fabio Canobbio crashed a venomous shot past Iker Casillas to put Valladolid into the lead following a quick counter-attack in the 48th minute to beat Real Madrid by 1-0. Madrid went down to 10 men in the dying seconds as Gabriel Heinze was sent off for a second bookable offence. With this defeat Real Madrid week went from bad to worse as they were thrown out of the Copa del Rey in the midweek. Adding to the worst Ruud van Nistelrooy will miss rest of the season with a serious knee ligament injury.

2-3 VALENCIA v SPORTING GIJON (Mestalla Stadium)

Sporting Gijon gave a surprise defeat to Valencia at Mestalla by 3-2. Valencia failed to grab the chance to win this home match. Goals from Luis Moran, David Barral and Diego Castro guided Manolo Preciado's men to their biggest scalp of the season so far, although they had to survive a late scare when Juan Mata set up a frantic finish with a strike in the dying moments, adding to David Villa's earlier penalty for Valencia.

0-2 GETAFE v SEVILLA FC (Coliseum Alfonso Perez)

Luis Fabiano and Tom De Mul scored the goals for Sevilla to beat Getafe by 2-0. They took Sevilla to their third win in a win and now Sevilla are level with Real Madrid and Valencia on points. Before Fabiano scores, Getafe's Esteban Granero missed the penalty and the defeat was harsh to hosts.

3-4 RCD ESPANYOL v NUMANCIA (Estadio Olimpico de Montjuic)

Jose Bokero and Carlos Llorens grabbed a scintilating late win for Numancia to beat RCD Espanyol by 4-3 in thrilling encounter at Estadio Olimpico de Montjuic. First Txomin Nagore put the promoted side in front somewhat against the run of play after a quarter of an hour, but Espanyol equalised through Moises Hurtado 10 minutes before the break. Numnacia striker Asier Goiria then restored the visitors' advantage seven minutes after the interval, but Dani Jarque headed home from a corner to level the scores once again. Raul Tamudo grabbed a third from the penalty spot after 71 minutes to put Espanyol ahead for the first time but Numancia failed to give in and equalised through Jose Javier Barkero in the closing stages. Carlos Llorens grabbed the winner in the fourth minute of injury-time to complete a remarkable turnaround for Numancia.

4-1 ATLETICO MADRID v DEPORTIVO LA CORUNA (Vicente Calderon)

Filipe Kasmirski scored the consolation for visitors just three minutes from time when they were beaten by Atletico Madrid by 4-1. A brace from Diego Forlan, John Heitinga and Maxi Rodriguez gave the much needed cheers to the home side. For home side it was something like feel good factor after demolishing Deportivo.

2-1 ALMERIA v REAL MALLORCA (Estadio Mediterraneo)

A brace from Alvaro Negredo in the either half as enjoyed a 2-1 win over Mallorca at Estadio Mediterraneo. Now Negredo with seven goals from 11 matches in this season. Negredo is the Real Madrid youth product who is in great form. Substitute Alhassane Keita scored a 90th minute consolation for the visitors. With this win Almeria moved above Mallorca in the table and this is fourth win of this season.

2-2 MALAGA CF v VILLAREAL CF (Estadio La Rosaleda)

Its Helder Rosario a Malaga back headed an injury time equaliser to grab a 2-2 draw at Estadio La Rosaleda. Malaga came back both the times to equalise against Villareal. Prolific strike pairing Giuseppe Rossi and Joseba Llorente were both on target for the visitors, to take their combined season's tally to 11 goals, but Malaga hit back on both occasions with Sergio Duda and then Helder Rosario on target. With this draw Malaga ended the three successive defeats run. Villarreal had suffered the indignity of going out of the Copa del Rey at the hands of Segunda B outfit Polideportivo Ejido in midweek.

3-1 REAL BETIS v RACING SANTANDER (Estadio Manuel Ruiz de Lopera)

A brace from Sergio Garcia and Achille Emana gave a thumping victory for Betis to outcast Santander. For the first time Real Betis moved into the top half of the La Liga table. This is the Betis fourth win in five La Liga mtaches. Pedro Munitis' deflected late strike proved nothing but a consolation for Racing, who never looked like taking anything from the game. Betis were winless after five rounds and sat at the bottom of the table following three consecutive defeats.Racing were also winless after five games and their coach, Juan Ramon Lopez Muniz, also appeared in danger of losing his job. The two sides therefore came into this match in a similar situation and they were also hard to distinguish on the pitch. Both were kitted out in green and white shirts, with Betis in white shorts and Racing wearing black ones.

2-0 ATHLETIC BILBAO v OSASUNA (San Mames)

Bilbao claimed three valuable home points when they beat Osasuna by 2-0 at San Mames. An early goal from Joseba Garmendia set the Basque side on their way in a dominant first-half display, although the outcome of the game remained in the balance until Fernando Llorente finally sealed the victory in the closing stages.

0-2 ECREATIVO HUELVA v FC BARCELONA (Estadio Nuevo Colombino)

Two second half goals from Lionel Messi and Seydou Keita gave a cool win over Recreativo by beating them 2-0. With this win Barcelona opened up the gap of three points to the second placed Villareal. In an evenly matched first half Barcelona struggled to break the Recreativo. But in the second half, Messi popped up to score from an improvised free-kick six minutes after the break and substitute Keita added a late second to seal a ninth straight league win for Pep Guardiola's side. Samuel Eto'o, Xavi, Thierry Henry, Rafa Marquez and Victor Valdes were all restored to the starting line-up after sitting out the midweek Copa del Rey victory over Benidorm but the Catalans struggled to find their rhythm early on.

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