In three days, Barcelona has loved seeing rival Real Madrid take two blows.
After beating Madrid 1-0 within the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals on the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Barcelona stored its title-chasing momentum within the Spanish league by defeating Valencia 1-0 and rising its lead over second-place Madrid to 9 factors. Madrid could not maintain tempo with the Catalan membership later Sunday after being held to a 0-0 draw at Real Betis.
Raphinha scored a first-half winner for Barcelona, which missed a penalty from Ferran Torres early within the second half after which noticed defender Ronald Araujo despatched off.
Madrid was largely in management in opposition to Betis, however Vinícius Júnior, Karim Benzema and Rodrygo did not capitalize on their scoring probabilities.
Barcelona and Madrid will play their last league sport on March 19 on the Camp Nou.
“It’s not over yet,” Madrid’s Lucas Vázquez stated. “We know it’s going to be tough, but we will fight until the end. We really think we can make a run.”
Barcelona had misplaced two in a row — in opposition to Manchester United within the Europa League and Almeria within the league — earlier than developing with the large Copa victory in opposition to Madrid on the Bernabéu.
Raphinha scored in opposition to Valencia with a header after a well-placed move by Sergio Busquets within the fifteenth minute. Torres missed the penalty within the fifty fifth and 4 minutes later Araujo was despatched off for stopping a breakaway.
Barcelona acquired the win regardless of nonetheless lacking a few of its prime gamers, together with Robert Lewandowski, the league’s main scorer. Ousmane Dembélé and Pedri additionally didn’t play due to accidents, whereas playmaker Gavi was out due to a yellow-card suspension.
“We are not being effective up front and end up suffering to close out matches,” stated Barcelona coach Xavi, who watched from the stands due to a suspension.
Madrid was with out midfielder Luka Modric due to a yellow-card suspension. Carlo Ancelotti’s crew is winless in three straight matches after defeating Liverpool 5-2 within the first leg of the spherical of 16 within the Champions League.
Benzema scored from a free kick within the twelfth however the objective was referred to as off after video overview as a result of the ball deflected barely off the arm of Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger.
Betis noticed its three-game successful streak finish but it surely remained in fifth place, three factors behind fourth-place Real Sociedad within the last Champions League spot.
Valencia was attempting to win two in a row after a run of six consecutive losses in all competitions. It went into the Camp Nou contained in the relegation zone and lacking a number of gamers due to harm, together with veteran striker Edinson Cavani. Valencia is in nineteenth place, two factors from security.
It was Valencia’s third sport with coach Rubén Baraja in cost after he changed Gennaro Gattuso. Singaporean membership proprietor Peter Lim nonetheless faces protests from Valencia followers who accuse him of poor administration and never caring for the membership’s pursuits.
Valencia unsuccessfully demanded a penalty kick when Fran Pérez was introduced down by Barcelona midfielder Franck Kessié inside the realm within the eighty fifth.
VALLADOLID VICTORY
Valladolid defeated Espanyol 2-1 in a match between two golf equipment attempting to remain removed from the relegation zone.
Iván Sánchez scored within the twenty fifth and Álvaro Aguado within the 62nd for Valladolid, which moved to 14th place, two factors clear from the drop zone.
Martin Braithwaite netted within the 87th for Espanyol, which was twelfth however stayed with the identical 27 factors as Valladolid.
Valladolid hadn’t received in three straight matches. Espanyol had received two in a row.
DISAPPOINTING DRAW
Seventh-place Rayo Vallecano and eighth-place Athletic Bilbao drew 0-0 in a outcome that stored the golf equipment from transferring up into the European qualification locations.
Athletic almost got here away with the highway win when Nico Williams’ stoppage-time shot struck the crossbar.
Both groups are winless in 4 straight league matches.
This story has been revealed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content.
Source web site: www.hindustantimes.com
