Monday, February 23, 2009

Ivan de la Pena’s brace stuns Barcelona

MADRID: Bottom club Espanyol stunned leader Barcelona with a 2-1 victory at the Nou Camp while Real Madrid ran riot with a 6-1 home win over Real Betis in the Primera Liga on Saturday.

Ten-man Barcelona slipped to only its second defeat of the campaign and saw its lead, which stood at 12 points just over a week ago, reduced to seven.

Espanyol’s Ivan de la Pena, who once played for Barcelona, made the most of Seydou Keita’s first-half dismissal, scoring twice after the break in the Catalan derby.

Yaya Toure pulled one back just past the hour but it was not enough to prevent champion Real edging closer with its ninth successive victory.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Raul helped themselves to two goals each while Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Ramos weighed in with one apiece as Real went in 6-1 up at halftime at the Bernabeu.

“No one said this would be easy,” Guardiola said. “But we are still in a good position and tomorrow we will pick ourselves up and we’ll get everyone back on track.” THE HINDU

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