Football: Messi shines as Barca survive scare to see off Rayo

BARCELONA - Lionel Messi created a goal and scored another as Barcelona came from behind to beat struggling Rayo Vallecano 3-1 at home on Saturday and stay seven points clear at the top of La Liga.

Rayo, who have now lost their last 12 games against Barca, took a shock lead midway through the first half when forward Raul de Thomas -- who is on loan from Real Madrid -- ran past two defenders before arrowing a shot into the bottom corner.

The Madrid side's unlikely lead at the Nou Camp lasted a quarter of an hour and ended when Messi whipped in a free kick for Gerard Pique to appear unmarked and head home.

Barca won a penalty early in the second half when Luis Suarez was fouled and Messi converted to put the league leaders in front and the Uruguayan forward made sure of the points with a simple finish from close range in the 82nd minute.

Coach Ernesto Valverde started without Ousmane Dembele and Ivan Rakitic but fielded an otherwise first-choice starting 11 even with a Champions League last-16 second leg against Olympique Lyonnais coming up on Wednesday.

Record signing Philippe Coutinho started instead of Dembele but yet again failed to dovetail with Suarez and Messi in attack and missed the target with both chances which fell his way.

France international Dembele was introduced at the start of the second half for midfielder Arthur Melo and Barca immediately looked more incisive down the right hand side, from which Suarez earned the penalty that Messi converted.

Coutinho was taken off with 10 minutes remaining and received a smattering of boos from the Barca fans, and his replacement Rakitic had an instant impact, darting into the area to reach a pass and promptly laying it off to Suarez to score.

The win, which followed successive victories over Real Madrid in the league and Copa del Rey, restored Barca's seven-point gap over nearest challengers Atletico Madrid, who earned a 1-0 victory at home to Leganes.

Rayo are 19th in the standings and two points from escaping the drop zone as the pressure mounts on coach Michel.

"We have had a very tough run of games, in theory today's should have been easier but we know that these games are very difficult to play," Pique told reporters.

Barca coach Valverde also emphasised how tough the match was.

"The game was hard from the outset and became even harder, De Thomas scored a goal out of absolutely nothing," he said.

"I give a lot of value to every win, it's important to keep stringing together victories. We weren't able to take the lead which is what we should be looking to do but the positive thing is the team adapted very well."

(Reporting by Richard Martin, editing by Ed Osmond)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

FOOTBALL: Messi hat-trick helps Barca to record 35-match unbeaten run

Barcelona set a Spanish record of 35 matches unbeaten in all competitions with a thumping 5-1 win at nine-man Rayo Vallecano in La Liga on Thursday after goal-machine Lionel Messi scored his 35th hat-trick.

Ivan Rakitic opened the scoring, Messi caught up with Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo on 35 trebles in all competitions and Arda Turan completed the rout, with Turkey's captain scoring his first goal for the club since joining from Atletico Madrid.

Barca's victory, which saw them beat the undefeated record Real Madrid had held since the 1988/89 season, restored an eight-point lead at the top over Atletico with 11 matches to go.

Atletico beat visiting Real Sociedad 3-0 on Tuesday, while third-placed Real Madrid are again 12 points off the pace after a 3-1 win at Levante on Wednesday.

Barca were helped by the fact that Rayo lost defender Diego Llorente to a red card three minutes before halftime for a foul on Rakitic before Manuel Iturra was also sent off in the 67th for bringing down Sergio Busquets in the area.

Busquets was felled from behind going for the rebound after a Messi free kick came back off the bar but Luis Suarez's penalty was saved by Juan Carlos, Barcelona's ninth miss from 18 penalties in all competitions this season.

Liverpool owners admit to underrating gravity of rebuild
The former general counsel for Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG), Edward Weiss, revealed they had 'underestimated' how poor the squad actually was and were 'overconfident' about rebuilding the club they purchased in 2010.

The admissions came during a Supreme Court hearing in New York this week relating to a long-running legal dispute with Mill Financial, an American company, suing the club's former co-owner George Gillett Jr and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

"You know, I think we underestimated how poor the playing quality of the (Liverpool) squad was, and frankly, we underestimated how difficult it was going to be to stabilise the asset," Weiss said.

"We were overconfident in assuming that many of the things that we had done in Boston at Fenway (with the baseball franchise Boston Red Sox) would translate naturally to the Premier League, and they just didn't all translate."

At the time of the take over, the Liverpool squad included club icons Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher but Weiss suggested they inherited a team with a few players past the peak of their careers.

"What we came to know was that the playing squad was poor. While we had a few top players like Steven Gerrard, other players like Fernando Torres and Pepe Reina were probably beyond their prime," Weiss said.

Since FSG took over the club, Liverpool won the League Cup in 2012 but only finished in the top four of the Premier League once, when they came second in 2014. (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by John O'Brien)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

FOOTBALL: Real crush Rayo, Barcelona win Club World Cup

Real hit 10 past nine-man Rayo, Atletico lose

Reuters

Real Madrid closed to within two points of La Liga leaders Barcelona after demolishing nine-man Rayo Vallecano 10-2 on Sunday while Atletico Madrid missed a chance to seize top spot outright by losing 1-0 at Malaga.

Gareth Bale landed the first four-goal haul of his career as Real bounced back in style from last weekend's 1-0 defeat at Villarreal, with Karim Benzema netting a hat-trick and Cristiano Ronaldo scoring twice.

Atletico had captain Gabi sent off 11 minutes into the second half at the Rosaleda and Malaga made the breakthrough three minutes from time when a Charles volley deflected into the net off Diego Godin.

Barca and Atletico are on 35 points, with the Spanish and European champions having played one game fewer. Real are third on 33.




Panathinaikos slip up as Olympiakos race 14 points clear

Graham Wood, Reuters

It was a case of one step forward and two steps back for Panathinaikos as they lost 1-0 at lowly Panthrakikos on Sunday, allowing arch-rivals Olympiakos Piraeus to march 14 points clear at the top of the Super League.

Andrea Stramaccioni's Panathinaikos went into the match on the back of two successive victories but they were undone in the Northern city of Komotini by Rogerio Martins' 28th-minute goal.

Olympiakos powered to their 14th win in 14 league matches on Saturday, defeating bottom club Kalloni 2-0 thanks to a double from Kostas Fortounis.

Marco Silva's league leaders now head into the Christmas break well clear at the top.

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Watford shock Liverpool, goal-shy West Ham held

Steve Tongue, Reuters

Nigerian international Odion Ighalo scored twice as a buoyant Watford won 3-0 at home to Liverpool on Sunday to consolidate seventh position in the Premier League, only one point behind the top four.

The lacklustre defeat by Watford was a bad blow for Juergen Klopp's side, who would have overtaken them with a win but remained ninth, having taken only one point from three games.

Not since April 1987 have Watford, promoted to the top flight this season, won four successive games at this level of English football.

"It was an amazing victory against an amazing team," Quique Sanchez Flores, Watford's manager, told the BBC.

In the day's other game, West Ham United stayed eighth after a fourth successive draw -- the last three of them goalless -- when they were held by managerless Swansea City, who are still in the bottom three.

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Barca sweep to another title in one-sided contest

Brian Homewood, Reuters

Barcelona swept to the Club World Cup title by outclassing South American champions River Plate 3-0 on Sunday, with Luis Suarez scoring twice after Lionel Messi had broken the deadlock in a one-sided contest.

There was a hint of handball about Messi's goal, although it did not appear to be intentional, as the Argentine brought down Neymar's pass and cleverly flicked the ball past Marcelo Barovero.

Uruguay forward Suarez took his tally in the tournament to five goals after his hat-trick in the semi-final win over Asian champions Guangzhou Evergrande, and 24 goals in as many games this season.

The European champions, fielding six South American players, were especially dominant in the second half when they repeatedly sliced through the River defence looking as if they could score with almost every attack.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com