Real wins to keep pace with Barca
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Raul Gonzalez and Arjen Robben scored on Sunday as Real Madrid defeated Valladolid 2-0 to stay six points behind leader Barcelona in the Spanish football league.
Raul struck his 15th goal of the season in the 44th minute after splitting two defenders to direct Gonzalo Higuain's pass beyond goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo.
Moments after Pepe appeared to foul Valladolid striker Henok Goitom inside the area, Robben scored on a quick counter-attack in the 82nd minute from Jose Maria "Guti" Gutierrez's long pass as Madrid overcame an uninspired performance.
Madrid barely threatened the Valladolid goal despite the return of Robben from injury and strikers Raul, Higuain and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar all in the line-up.
Madrid has 69 points, while Barcelona has 75 after beating bottom-of-the-table Recreativo Huelva on Saturday to warm up for Tuesday's Champions League quarterfinal match at Bayern Munich where the Catalans will play with a 4-0 first-leg advantage. Juanma Mata beat goalkeeper Inaki Lafuente in the 88th as Valencia won 3-2 against Sporting Gijon to overtake Villarreal for fourth in the table, the final Champions League qualifying place.
David Silva evaded several Sporting players before shooting through a crowd and under Lafuente in the 19th to open the scoring for Valencia before David Barral equalised from the spot in the 36th.
David Villa, whose career began at Sporting, scored his 22nd goal of the season with a penalty in the 56th, but Mate Billic took advantage of slack defending in the 71st minute to head home before Mata's ninth strike of the season decided it.
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