Real Madrid fight back to defeat Mallorca
Reuters - Saturday 14 January 2012, 23:02
Goals from Gonzalo Higuain
and Jose Callejon gave La Liga leaders Real Madrid a 2-1
win at Real Mallorca after a gritty display on Saturday
that stretched their advantage over second-placed Barcelona to
eight points.
However, third-placed Valencia missed the chance to close
within a point of Barca when they slipped to a 1-0 defeat at
home to Real Sociedad in Saturday's late kick-off.
Mallorca's Israel forward Tomer Hemed's superb glancing
header gave the home side a shock lead over Madrid six minutes
before the break at their Iberostar stadium but Real substitute
Higuain levelled with a deflected strike 18 minutes from time.
Callejon grabbed the winner for the visitors in the 85th
minute when he ran on to a loose ball and fired through a crowd
of defenders past Hemed's international team-mate Dudu Aouate in
the Mallorca goal to lift Real to 46 points from 18 matches.
Real had to battle for the victory and coach Jose Mourinho,
who switched to a more attacking formation with only three
defenders when chasing the game in the second half, praised his
Mallorca counterpart Joaquin Caparros and his players.
"We were playing against a team with a great manager who
were perfectly organised defensively," Mourinho told a news
conference.
"They were very well prepared for this match," added the
Portuguese. "They knew what to expect from us and they were very
focused and did not make any mistakes."
ZARAGOZA PROTEST
Sociedad forward Antoine Griezmann got the only goal of the
game in the 56th minute against Valencia when he controlled the
rebound from his own shot and fired over keeper Diego Alves.
The victory lifted the San Sebastian-based club to 13th on
21 points, two ahead of Mallorca in 15th.
Sevilla's bid to qualify for next season's Champions League
suffered a setback when they followed up a three-match losing
run with a 0-0 draw at home to Espanyol earlier on Saturday.
The Andalusian club, who have managed only 19 goals in 18
games this term, are sixth on 25 points.
Thousands of fans of bottom club Real Zaragoza gathered to
protest against president Agapito Iglesias before their match at
home to Getafe and continued voicing their complaints about his
administration inside the stadium.
The Aragonese club were closing on only a third win of the
campaign after Maurizio Lanzaro put them ahead shortly before
half-time but Getafe snatched an equaliser 11 minutes from time
when Javier Paredes diverted the ball into his own net.
Struggling Granada's troubles deepened when they lost 2-1 at
home to Rayo Vallecano and dropped to 16th.