Barcelona have moved to within two points of Primera Liga leaders Real Madrid as a Samuel Eto'o hat-trick helped secure a 5-1 demolition of Levante at the Camp Nou.
Spanish international midfielder Xavi put Barcelona in front after 14 minutes against Levante, but Riga Mustapha then stunned the home crowd when he hit an equaliser from the penalty spot on 41 minutes.
The goal stung Barcelona, who defeated Celtic in the UEFA Champions League in midweek, and they immediately responded as Lionel Messi netted on 44 minutes.
And after the interval Eto'o became the star of the show as he hit his first on 56 minutes before adding a second six minutes later.
Eto'o the ensured he was taking the match ball home as he completed his hat-trick with three minutes remaining.
Barcelona have closed the gap after Real slipped to a surprise 1-0 home defeat to Getafe.
Ikechukwu Uche took advantage of Real complacency on 64 minutes to put fire the only goal of the game.
Villarreal kept up their pursuit of Real and Barcelona as they secured a 2-1 away win over Athletic Bilbao.
Bilbao had taken the lead through Fernando Llorente on three minutes at San Mames.
However, Guillermo Franco then hit twice (66 and 84) to hand Villarreal the points.
Elsewhere, fourth placed Atletico Madrid endured a torrid end to a bad week as they slumped 3-1 away to struggling Osasuna.
Atletico crashed out of the Uefa Cup to Bolton in midweek and the latest defeat dents their hopes of a place in next season's European competitions.
Osasuna, who sat 17th at kick-off, took the lead through Clemente Sola on 2 minutes and Carlos Vela then added a second three minutes later.
Diego Forlan pulled one back for Atletico on 26 minutes, but after the interval Hector Font (76) secured the points for Osasuna, who move up to 12th.
Espanyol also suffered a surprise defeat as they lost 2-0 to Deportivo La Coruna at the Riazor.
Fabricio Coloccini opened the scoring after 18 minutes and Angel Lafita secured the points six minutes later.
Second-bottom Murcia's relegation fears continue as they suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Real Valladolid.
Joseba Llorente struck after 42 minutes to leave Murcai looking nervously over their shoulders.
Racing Santander boosted their hopes of a place in Europe next season as Mohamed Tchite hit the back of the net after 61 minutes to earn the points at home against nine-man Almeria.
Cisma Domingo and Veljko Paunovic both saw red for the visitors late on after collecting two bookings.
Honours were left even between Real Mallorca and Real Betis at the Ono Estadi as they played out a 1-1 draw.
Fernando Varela gave Mallorca the lead on 56 minutes, but Edu then earned a point with 20 minutes remaining.
Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Villarreal
No comments:
Post a Comment