BARCELONA: FC
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi from Argentina duels for the ball against Celta
Vigo’s goalkeepr Sergio Alvarez (right) during a Spanish La Liga soccer
match at the Camp Nou stadium here on early Sunday.
Photo: AP
MADRID, Nov 4: Lionel Messi could not get a
goal to mark the birth of his first son but Barcelona took the points in
a straightforward 3-1 victory over Celta Vigo which moved them three
points clear of Atletico at the summit, reports ESPNsoccernet. Three
goals in the space of five minutes sparked the first half into life
after the 20-minute mark as Adriano and David Villa scored either side
of Mario Bermejo’s strike. Jordi Alba wrapped up the win just after the
hour mark. The breakthrough came when Pedro crossed from the right
for Adriano to slot home. Celta Vigo’s reply was immediate, with Valdes
unable to hold Fernandez Augusto’s shot and Bermejo sweeping home the
rebound. But just as quickly as Celta equalised, Barca retook the
lead, with Iniesta’s pass finding Villa for the finish. Victory was
assured when Villa turned provider to play the ball through for Jordi
Alba to score from close range. Real Madrid moved into third place
and handed Jose Mourinho his 100th win in charge of Los Blancos with a
4-0 victory over Real Zaragoza. Gonzalo Higuain and Angel Di Maria
put the hosts in a commanding position with a goal apiece in a
two-minute spell midway through the first half but Zaragoza were
unfortunate not to get back into the game early in the second period as
Jose Mari fired a shot off the crossbar and Helder Postiga had a goal
wrongly ruled out for offside. However, Madrid wrapped things up in
the final two minutes as both Michael Essien and Luka Modric scored
their first goals since swapping the Premier League for the Spanish
capital. Valencia survived the dismissals of Ricardo Costa and two of
their coaching staff to inflict a first defeat of the season on
Atletico Madrid as they ran out 2-0 winners. Roberto Soldado’s stunning opener gave the hosts an interval lead and Nelson Valdez rounded off a 2-0 victory in stoppage time. Costa
was dismissed in the 90th minute for a second booking and coach
Mauricio Pellegrino and his assistant Carlos Compagnucci were sent from
the dug-out in separate incidents, but it was Valencia’s day
nonetheless. Rayo Vallecano inflicted Malaga’s first home defeat of the season, 2-1, thanks to two goals by Piti. The
midfielder opened the scoring from Leo Baptistao’s driven cross on 11
minutes but after squandering a number of chances towards the end of the
first half, the visitors were pegged back four minutes into the second
period as Martin Demichelis headed home Joaquin’s free-kick. Rayo
responded brillia-ntly to conceding and after a sustained spell of
pressure, they got the winner they deserved on the hour mark when Leo
again teed up Piti to fire into the bottom corner for his fourth goal of
the season.
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