Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, Raul and Michael Owen all scored to lift Real
Madrid over Barcelona, 4-2, in a much-needed victory to keep its title
hopes alive on Sunday.
Real Madrid kept themselves alive for the top spot in La Liga and now
sits just six points behind first-place Barcelona with seven games
remaining.
"We've still got a healthy lead at the top of the table and we just
have to ensure we keep fighting till the end of the season," said
Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard. "We have to take each game as if it was our
most important of the season.
Mathematically, nothing is decided
yet and we know that we have to knuckle
down and keep on working hard if we want to win the
title".
Zidane wasted no time getting his team on the scoreboard with a head
ball in the seventh minute. Then in the 20th minute, Ronaldo also used his
head on a David Beckman free kick to push the Real Madrid edge to 2-0.
"They came out all fired up, looking for the quickest possible route to
our area," said Rijkaard. "I think we slipped up there, knowing what
talented players they've got we gave them far too much space early on.
They were popping up all over the
place and we weren't showing enough aggression. However, apart from that
period, we didn't play badly at all and I'd insist, we shouldn't make a
drama out of the result".
Samuel Eto'o netted his league-leading 22nd
goal to cut the deficit in half in the 29th minute,
but Raul scored for the home team in the 45th minute to make it
a 3-1 affair at the intermission.
Michael Owen scored in the 65th minute on a hard shot down low to
make it 4-1, before Ronaldinho capped off the scoring via a free kick in
the 73rd minute for Barcelona.
Also on Sunday, Sevilla moved into third place in La Liga courtesy of a
3-1 victory at Espanyol. Jordi Lopez, Julio Baptista and David Alves each
scored for Sevilla, while Jonathan Soriano found the back of the net for
Espanyol.
Villarreal started the day in third place, but could only pick up one
point in a 1-1 draw with Deportivo. In fact, Villarreal appeared to be
going home empty until a goal by Cesar Arzo in the 85th minute.
Capping off Sunday's action in La Liga: Getafe got a goal from Angel
Vivar Dorado to get past Albacete, 1-0; Real Betis settled for a 2-2 draw
with Levante; Racing fell to Osasuna, 1-0; Real Zaragoza shut out
Mallorca, 2-0.
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-11 09:00
