Real battle back to beat Athletic Bilbao
Reuters - Sunday 22 January 2012, 22:51
La Liga leaders Real Madrid
ended a miserable week with a morale-boosting 4-1 comeback win
at home to 10-man Athletic Bilbao on Sunday which preserved
their five-point advantage over Barcelona.
Wednesday's 2-1 King's Cup quarter-final first-leg defeat by
Barca and the controversy surrounding Pepe's alleged stamp on
Lionel Messi's hand had left Jose Mourinho's side reeling, with
local media reporting a rift in the dressing room.
Barca trimmed Real's lead to two points earlier in the day
when Lionel Messi's hat-trick helped the champions to a 4-1 win
at Malaga but Real responded with a gritty performance against
dangerous opponents to give themselves a lift ahead of
Wednesday's Cup return leg at the Nou Camp.
"We knew it was going to be a very, very tough game but we
managed to play the ball around well and it was an extremely
important win for us," Marcelo, who netted Sunday's equaliser,
told Spanish television.
Asked about the reported rift between Mourinho and some of
Real's Spanish internationals, the Brazilian added: "If there
was any division you would have seen it on the pitch. We showed
tonight that there is no problem."
SUPERB VOLLEY
With half the season played, Real have 49 points from 19
games with Barca on 45. Valencia are nine behind in third after
they conceded a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Osasuna and
Levante are four points behind their city rivals in fourth after
a 0-0 draw at bottom club Real Zaragoza.
Real fell behind as early as the 13th minute at the Bernabeu
when towering Spain striker Fernando Llorente finished off a
swift break with a superb volley before zippy full-back Marcelo
cut through the visiting defence to equalise in the 25th.
The referee ruled that Kaka had been fouled in the penalty
area by Ander Iturraspe two minutes into the second half and
Cristiano Ronaldo smashed the ball into the roof of the net.
Oscar de Marcos was sent off just over 20 minutes from time
when he brought Mesut Ozil down in the area and league top
scorer Ronaldo added his second from the spot to take his tally
for the season to 23, one ahead of Messi.
Bilbao's brave challenge fizzled out as their players tired
and substitute Jose Callejon added an 86th-minute fourth before
Gonzalo Higuain struck a shot against the post.
Barca's earlier game at Malaga's Rosaleda stadium had a
distinct Qatari flavour.
The Andalusian club were bought by a member of the nation's
royal family at the end of the 2009/10 season and the Barca
players shirts are emblazoned with the name of their sponsors,
the Qatar Foundation.
World Player of the Year Messi leaped to nod Adriano's
floated cross into the bottom corner in the 33rd minute before
Alexis Sanchez made it 2-0 three minutes into the second half.
Any lingering Malaga hopes were snuffed out three minutes
later when Messi slotted his second, a trademark run and finish
that left the home defence in disarray.
The 24-year-old, who won a third successive World Player
award this month, curled a free-kick on to the underside of the
crossbar 15 minutes from time before he again left his hapless
markers trailing to complete his hat-trick in the 82nd minute.
It was his 10th La Liga hat-trick and his 15th in all
competitions and puts him on 216 goals, 19 short of club record
of 235 set by Cesar.
Substitute Salomon Rondon, who replaced former Manchester
United and Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy with half an
hour remaining, scored a consolation for the home side five
minutes from time.
IMPORTANT WIN
"It was important to win today and I managed to get a few
goals too so I am pleased all round," Messi, clutching his
"hat-trick" match ball, told Spanish television.
"All the games are tough when you are away from home but now
we need to recuperate for what will definitely be a difficult
match on Wednesday," he added, in reference to Barca's Cup game
against Real.
Roberto Soldado looked to have secured victory for Valencia
when he nodded his 12th goal of the season six minutes from time
at the Reyno de Navarra stadium in Pamplona.
However, captain David Albelda was shown a straight red card
moments later for a badly-timed lunge on David Timor and
defender Lolo scrambled the ball home from the resulting free-kick to rescue a point for the home side.