Monday, March 24, 2008

Real sucker punched and lead gets cut

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EUROPEAN SOCCER / PRIMERA LIGA: Barcelona closed to within four points of Real Madrid at the top of the Spanish league yesterday after the leaders lost 3-2 at home to Valencia while the Catalans beat Valladolid 4-1 at Camp Nou.

Real slipped to only their second home defeat of the season when former Atletico Madrid forward Angel Arizmendi struck a dramatic 89th-minute winner in a frenetic encounter which featured two goals apiece from Raul and David Villa.

Bernd Schuster's side, who have lost five of their last eight games, lead the table on 62 points, Barcelona follow on 58, while Villarreal, 2-1 winners at basement side Levante, are in third spot on 56.

Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on the final Champions League berth with a 2-1 win at Sevilla on Saturday, their first win at the Sanchez Pizjuan in over 15 years.

Relegation-threatened Real Murcia claimed their first win since Javier Clemente took charge as coach at the start of the month with an emphatic 4-0 win at home to Espanyol.

SERIE A: Second-half goals by Mauro Camoranesi and David Trezeguet gave Juventus a 2-1 win at leaders Inter Milan on Saturday, while second-placed AS Roma beat Empoli 2-1 to move within four points of the champions.

Portugal midfielder Maniche pulled one back for Inter seven minutes from time to set up a tense finish after Brazilian Maicon had danced through the Juve defence.

Earlier on Saturday, Christian Panucci headed 10-man Roma to victory shortly after Simone Perrotta was sent off in the 57th minute, giving them 64 points from 30 games, six more than third-placed Juve.

Empoli's Sebastian Giovinco had levelled after Max Tonetto's first-half opener.

Fiorentina consolidated fourth place, worth a slot in the Champions League qualifiers, by beating 10-man Lazio 1-0 at home thanks to Giampaolo Pazzini's second-half goal.

AC Milan remain four points behind the Florence side in fifth after Alexandre Pato gave them a 1-0 win at Torino.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times