Real Madrid suffers shock defeat
Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Real Madrid saw their advantage over bitter rivals Barcelona slashed to just two points in La Liga after they were surprisingly beaten 1-0 at home in bizarre fashion by Getafe on Sunday.

Barcelona had earlier thrashed bottom club Levante 5-1 to give a clear sign that they are determined to keep up the pressure on Real, who witnessed the end of their 100-percent home record in the league this season.

However, Real will reflect on the fact that they only had themselves to blame for the defeat, their third loss in the last eight days.

Arjen Robben thought he had put Real in the lead after 65 minutes but as the Real players started to celebrate referee Arturo Dauden Ibanez ruled that captain Raul Gonzalez was offside before he passed to his Dutch team mate.

Getafe quickly took the ensuing free kick and executed a swift counter-attack against their opponents now under-manned defence.

Franceso Casquero broke free and laid the ball off to Manu Del Moral who, in turn, passed to Ikechuckwu Uche and the Nigerian coolly slotted the ball home with his right foot from 10 metres out.

"Celebrating a goal and then getting hit on the counter-attack, that's something strange. We had put so much effort into the game up to that point that to recover from that blow was difficult," added Real coach Bernd Schuster ruefully.

Getafe coach, and former Real player, Michael Laudrup couldn't resist a smile at his old club's expense.

"It was a bit weird but a great goal, without a doubt," said the Dane.

Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o scored a second half hat-trick which helped put his club back in the title race.

Spanish international playmaker Xavi Hernandez got Barca off to a good start with his third goal in four games after 14 minutes.

Two Levante defenders tried to cut out an Eto'o pass but, in the melee, the ball found its way to Xavi who made no mistake from just inside the penalty area.

Levante briefly silenced the Nou Camp crowd when they equalised from a Mustapha Riga penalty after 40 minutes, when Gianluca Zambrotta clumsily handled the ball.

Lionel Messi restored Barca's lead three minutes later when Xavi put the ball through to the mesmerising Argentine winger who placed his low shot past Levante goalkeeper Vladan Kujovic.

Eto'o then moved into overdrive after the break with goals after 55 and 61 minutes, both coming from Messi passes.

He completed his first league hat-trick at the club by mis-hitting an unselfish pass by Bojan Krkic into the net two minutes before the whistle.

"After going one up I thought we were just moving slowly. But I was pleased with the way we responded after they got a goal," said Barca coach Frank Rijkaard.

"There are going to be moments which we can all enjoy and today was one of those. Samuel scored three important goals and we played well."