The Spanish Cup returned
midweek, with David Villa proving once again that he is a worthy successor to
Piojo López as "The Scourge of the Nou Camp". Villa's goal though was
cancelled out in the last second, setting up an interesting semi-final second
leg in three weeks' time. The following day Getafe beat Racing 3-1 to set
themselves up for a possible second final appearance in a row.
Goals with a vengeance on
Saturday, as the top sides brought their games forward to give them time to
prepare for Europe. Real Madrid extended their lead at the top to five points
with a 2-3 win at Recreativo, Robinho winning it with two late goals after
Raúl had scored for Schuster's side. Barcelona though were beaten 4-2 by
Atlético Madrid, Ronaldinho's spectacular overhead kick early on and a
late strike from Eto'o nowhere near enough after Agüero scored two, made a
third for Maxi and won a penalty for Forlán. Kanouté opened the
scoring for Sevilla at Deportivo but in the end they lost 2-1, and Valencia
were beaten 2-0 by Espanyol, Luis García getting both for the Catalans
including a penalty.
Not quite so many goals on
Sunday, but still a fair few. Güiza and Arango added to their tallies as
Mallorca drew 3-3 against Getafe, and Edu and Pavone were on target in Betis's
4-0 win over Murcia. There were goals from Negredo (a penalty) and Llorente
(his fourth in successive games) as Almería and Athletic Bilbao drew
1-1, and Riga scored again in Levante's 2-1 win over a struggling Zaragoza. It
was too much for new coach Javier Irureta, who threw in the towel after only
six weeks in the job. (03.03.08) |