Barcelona threw away two vital points in a 1-1 home draw with Racing Santander on Saturday as the Spanish giants slumped to their worst league start in 35 years.
Argentine winger Lionel Messi converted a 70th-minute penalty, but Barca failed to take advantage and Jonathan Pereira equalized six minutes later to deny the hosts victory.
One point from six is a woeful start for coach Pep Guardiola who will expect better when Barcelona start their Champions League campaign tomorrow with a home match against Sporting Lisbon.
PHOTO: AP
“I can’t criticize the players as I am very happy with their attitude,” Guardiola said. “Football is the only sport where you can win without having any real shots on goal. Our opponents [Numancia in the first game and Racing] have hardly threatened our goal, but have still taken five points from us.”
Guardiola was clearly unhappy with the opening 1-0 defeat by Numancia and showed he is not afraid to make big decisions by dropping Thierry Henry.
Bojan Krkic, Andres Iniesta and Messi all started on the substitutes bench — probably because of their international exertions — making way for the lesser known Sergi Busquets, 20, and 21-year-old striker Pedro “Pedrito” Rodriguez.
Gerard Pique, recruited from Manchester United in the summer, also made his debut in defense.
Substitute Messi — recently criticized by his hero Diego Maradona for being too greedy — broke the deadlock with a spot-kick.
However, Pereira restored parity, deflecting in a drilled free-kick to prompt jeers at the Camp Nou.
Atletico Madrid are also in Champions League action tomorrow at PSV Eindhoven — their first game in the competition since the 1996-1997 season — but their preparations were spoiled by a 2-1 defeat at 10-man Valladolid.
“We committed two errors that were avoidable and they led to two goals,” Atletico coach Javier Aguirre said. “It is a step backward, but we have to forget it and start from scratch again to focus on Tuesday’s match.”
Atletico Madrid paid the price for the international break with Uruguayan Diego Forlan unavailable after arriving back late from the World Cup qualifiers.
Defender Jonny Heitinga was also injured on international duty with the Netherlands, forcing Aguirre to ring the changes.
Valladolid took full advantage of Atletico’s makeshift side scoring after just three minutes through Vivar Dorado.
On 21 minutes Valladolid had Pedro Lopez sent off for two cautionable offenses, but the hosts still went two goals up seven minutes later through a penalty.
Substitute Kun Aguero pulled one back, but Valladolid bravely held on.
Sevilla nudged Atletico from top spot after a superb 4-3 victory over Sporting Gijon in Saturday’s late game.
Sporting went 2-0 up inside the first 20 minutes, but Sevilla stormed back with quick-fire goals from Ernesto Chevanton after 21 minutes, Freddy Kanoute in the 36th minute and Enzo Maresca a minute later, to put the hosts in front.
The scoring did not end there though, with Mate Bilic converting a penalty close to halftime for his second goal as a thrilling goal-packed half ended 3-3. Kanoute scored the only goal of the second half to push Sevilla to the league summit.
“It was a crazy game, but it is an important three points for us and that is what matters,” Kanoute said. Spanish La Liga TEAM P GD PTS 1 Sevilla 2 1 4 2 Atletico Madrid 2 3 3 3 Valencia 1 3 3 4 Almeria 1 2 3 5 Deportivo La Coruna 1 1 3 6 Getafe 1 1 3 7 Espanyol 1 1 3 8 Numancia 1 1 3 9 Recreativo Huelva 1 1 3 10 Valladolid 2 0 3 11 Racing Santander 2 0 2 12 Osasuna 1 0 1 13 Villareal 1 0 1 14 Barcelona 2 -1 1 15 Real Madrid 1 -1 0 16 Real Betis 1 -1 0 17 Sporting Gijon 2 -2 0 18 Athletic Bilbao 1 -2 0 19 Mallorca 1 -3 0 20 Malaga 1 -4 0
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