Barcelona, Sevilla, Madrid register comfortable wins
Apr 30, 2007 - 3:05:44 PM
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Gimnastic Tarragona and Real Sociedad all but sealed their doom by losing against Villarreal and Getafe.
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By DPA,
[RxPG] Madrid, April 30 - There was no change atop the Spanish Liga as all the top football clubs with Barcelona, Sevilla and Real Madrid won their respective matches against lowly opponents.
Barcelona beat Levante 1-0, Sevilla won 3-1 against Espanyol, and Real enjoyed a 4-1 romp against Bilbao in the Liga football tournament Sunday.
The results leave Barcelona on top with 62 points from 32 games, and Sevilla remain just one point behind with 61. Real now have 60 points, four more than fourth-placed Valencia, who beat Recreativo Huelva 2-0 Saturday.
Barcelona could have won by more than one goal but in the end were relieved just to claim three points, after a late miss from Levante winger Olivier Kapo.
The only goal in the Camp Nou came in the 27th minute. Levante keeper Jose Molina failed to hold a centre from Xavi Hernandez, and Samuel Eto'o put away the rebound.
Eto'o had a second goal on the hour disallowed for offside, and Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho missed good chances toward the end.
The clearest second-half chance, though, fell to Kapo in injury time - but the Frenchman failed to connect from just four metres.
'It should have been all over a long time before the end,' said Eto'o.
Real won in true Fabio Capello style - soaking up the pressure, playing on the break and waiting for mistakes by the locals, of which there were many.
Sergio Ramos headed Real into the lead in the 14th minute on a centre from David Beckham. In the 34th minute Cicinho centred from the right for Ruud Van Nistelrooy to head in the second.
Four minutes into the second half, Van Nistelrooy made it 3-0 with a fierce drive on another centre from Cicinho.
The 'Flying Dutchman' is now third in the scorers' chart with 18 goals, one goal behind Frederic Kanoute of Sevilla and Zaragoza's Diego Milito.
Bilbao continued to come forward and - just when it seemed they would never score - young sub Fernando Llorente headed in a consolation goal 11 minutes from time.
Three minutes later, Guti made it 4-1 on the break with a classy chip to complete the misery of the San Mames faithful.
Zaragoza stay in fifth place, two points behind Valencia, after a 2-2 draw at Osasuna.
Sunday produced few changes at the bottom of the table.
Gimnastic Tarragona and Real Sociedad all but sealed their doom by losing against Villarreal and Getafe.
Joint third from bottom still are Levante and Celta Vigo, who were thrashed 3-0 at home by Mallorca. Two points above Levante and Vigo are Bilbao after being thrashed by Van Nistelrooy and company.
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