Ten-man Real Madrid allowed Barcelona to make up ground in the race for the Spanish title after stumbling to a 1-1 draw at Real Murcia on Saturday.
Robinho put Real ahead after just eight minutes but Enrique De Lucas equalized shortly after the interval.
Spanish international Guti was sent off late in the game for a kick as Real's frustrations boiled over.
Real are now just two points ahead of Barcelona who made it a perfect seven home wins at their fortress Camp Nou with three second-half goals clinching a 3-0 victory over Recreativo Huelva on Saturday.
Gaby Milito made the breakthrough on 63 minutes with a header before teenage prodigy Bojan Krkic showed composure to score two minutes later.
The 17-year-old Bojan, tipped for a big future, admitted he was still coming to terms with life as a soccer superstar.
"Just three months ago I was at college," Bojan said. "To be honest I still can't believe everything that is happening. The feeling of scoring here at Camp Nou and then celebrating with my team-mates was incredible."
Argentine Lionel Messi completed the scoring late on with his eighth goal of the campaign.
Barcelona climbed to joint-second, level on points with Villarreal who had the opportunity to replace Real at the top of La Liga with a victory over Almeria yesterday.
Sevilla challenged for the title with Real and Barcelona last season but the troubled club fell to their seventh defeat of the season -- they only lost nine in the whole of the last campaign -- with a 2-1 home reverse against Real Mallorca on Saturday.
Robinho headed Real ahead after just eight minutes with his third goal in two games but they failed to build on the perfect start.
Murcia levelled four minutes after the break with De Lucas rising highest to power in a header.
The red mist then descended on Guti who was sent off for kicking an opponent and Murcia almost won it late on missing a guilt-edged chance.
Barcelona went into their match with criticism ringing in their ears after former favorite Edmilson, now at Chelsea, said there were several black sheep in the dressing room and that some of his former teammates were slacking in training.
"There have been various things that have not helped us but we just concentrated on playing football," Bojan said.
Milito broke the deadlock with a brilliant header before Bojan showed a touch of class receiving Thierry Henry's pass with a feint before dispatching his shot into the corner.
Messi got the goal he merited late on as Barca showed the home form of champions but six points from a possible 18 away from home is a problem that needs to be solved.
OFFENSE SHINES: First baseman Pan Chie-kai hit a solo homer in the fifth inning as all 10 batters Taiwan used contributed at least one hit toward their team total of 14 One day after their first shutout loss at the WBSC Premier12, Taiwan yesterday bounced back with a commanding 8-2 victory over the US, keeping their hopes for a spot in tomorrow’s final alive. The win in the Super Round marked Taiwan’s first triumph over the US at a top-tier international baseball tournament since 2003. Their previous win over the US was at the 2003 Baseball World Cup, with only one win in the previous 10 matchups since 1999. Yesterday’s game was tightly contested through the first six innings, with the margin never exceeding two runs. However, the tide turned in the top of
Taiwan last night defeated Cuba 2-0 in their World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 Group B game at the Taipei Dome and finished the group second. At the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium, South Korea yesterday defeated Australia 5-2, while Japan last night won 11-3 against the Dominican Republic. On Sunday, Taiwan scored two three-run homers in an 11-3 blowout win over Australia at the Taipei Dome to advance to the Super Round. Fresh off a defeat at the hands of defending Premier12 champions and Group B winners Japan the previous day, Taiwan’s offense came out slugging against Australia from the
Taiwan scored two three-run homers in an 11-3 blowout win over Australia at the Taipei Dome last night to advance to the Super Round of the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 tournament. Fresh off a defeat at the hands of defending Premier12 champion and Group B winner Japan the previous day, Taiwan’s offense came out slugging against Australia from the off. After taking a walk to first base, Taiwan’s Chen Chieh- hsien (陳傑憲) then stole second before Tseng Song-en (曾頌恩) drew a walk to first in the top of the first inning. Chen then
TWO-NIL LOSS: Taiwan’s best chance to score came at the top of the fifth with the bases loaded and one out, but Venezuela’s Liarvis Breto got out of the jam Taiwan yesterday suffered a shutout 2-0 loss to Venezuela in the opening game of the WBSC Premier12 Super Round at the Tokyo Dome. Taiwan had seven hits, one more than Venezuela’s six, but catcher Carlos Perez’s two-run homer to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning delivered the only runs scored by both teams and secured victory for Venezuela. Taiwan’s best chance came at the top of the fifth inning with the bases loaded and only one out. However, Venezuela reliever Liarvis Breto struck out Chen Chen-wei before reliever Pedro Garcia finished the inning by allowing an infield flyball by Lin