Captain marvel Raul scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid defeated Sevilla 4-2 on Sunday to cut Barcelona’s advantage at the top to four points ahead of next Saturday’s “El Clasico” at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Barcelona had dropped two points in a 2-2 draw at Valencia on Saturday and Real capitalized as Raul gave coach Juande Ramos a win on his first return to Sevilla.
“It was crucial that we won this match,” Ramos said. “We have been winning lots of games but not getting any closer and sometimes it seems like hard work. Now we have closed to within four points and have home advantage against Barcelona next Saturday.”
Brazilian Renato put Sevilla in front on 17 minutes, but Raul leveled just before half-time and then scored twice inside three minutes (63, 66) to complete his hat-trick and take his season’s tally to 18.
“It was pivotal to score just before the break,” Ramos said. “We took more risks in the second half because nothing less than a victory was good enough.”
Diego Capel gave Sevilla a glimmer of hope with an 80th minute strike, but Marcelo scored for Real in the dying seconds to make it 4-2.
Sevilla had beaten Real 4-3 at the Bernabeu in Bernd Schuster’s final match in charge and since then Ramos has guided the champions back into the title race with 17 victories in 19 games. Back in mid-December Barcelona had a 12-point buffer after beating Real 2-0, but that has now been sliced to just four points as the two sides prepare to face off again.
For Sevilla it was a fourth straight league loss and Valencia are just a point behind in fourth.
Real had to do without the suspended Pepe who will not play again this season after picking up a 10-game ban for his violent conduct against Getafe.
In the dug-out, Ramos was jeered by Sevilla fans who used to worship him for winning two UEFA Cups and a King’s Cup, but later branded him a mercenary when he resigned to join Tottenham in October 2007.
Earlier on Sunday, Villarreal moved a point behind fourth-placed Valencia in the Champions League race with a 2-1 win at Getafe.
Atletico Madrid stayed within three points of Villarreal with a 3-1 home win over strugglers Sporting Gijon on Sunday.
In Sunday’s other games it was:
• Recreativo Huelva 2 (Sisi 48, Camunas 81), Real Mallorca 4 (Jurado 10, Arango 15, Castro 76, Keita 90)
• Valladolid 0, Osasuna 0
• Athletic Bilbao 2 (Llorente 21, Lopez 41-pen), Racing Santander 1 (Pinillos 57-pen)
• Espanyol 2 (Luis Garcia 4, Roman 83), Real Betis 0
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
‘SETTING THE TONE’: Donovan Mitchell said that their determination to dominate had nothing to do with past results, but was about a potential post-season clash The Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday boosted their NBA-best record with a 142-105 romp past the New York Knicks, tightening their grip on the Eastern Conference lead with an all-around dominant display. Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points to lead six Cavs players to score in double figures, connecting on five of seven three-pointers as Cleveland drilled 19 from beyond the arc. “I think the biggest thing was just try to set the tone early,” Mitchell said, adding that the determination to dominate had nothing to do with the Knicks’ first-round playoff win over the Cavs two seasons ago and everything to do with
BELGIANS ADVANCE: Club Brugge gave Atalanta a lesson in efficiency, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s team had 29 efforts at goal, compared with seven from the visitors Seldom has a player’s sending off had such an influence on a game. AC Milan was to left rue Theo Hernandez’s second yellow card — for diving — as Feyenoord advanced to the UEFA Champions League last 16 at the former European champion’s expense with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff on Tuesday, giving the Dutch team a 2-1 win on aggregate. Bayern Munich, Club Brugge and Benfica also won their playoffs, eliminating Celtic, UEFA Europa League winner Atalanta BC and French team AS Monaco respectively. “In soccer everything changes in a second,” said Milan forward
RSS