Off the wire
• French Ligue 1 results  • French Ligue 1 standings  • Thousands of rightwing Israelis rally in support of Netanyahu before elections  • Leading goal scorers of French Ligue 1  • Latvian authorities nervous as controversial WWII remembrance date nears  • Feature: Party time for army veteran Eric, as Britain announces three-day events to mark 70th WWII end anniversary  • "Clicks", "motors" working together key to success of internet industry: Alibaba founder  • Interview: Egypt stock exchange in lead since 2014: EGX chief  • Feature: Village on edge of paradise judged best place to live in Britain  • Russian film on Crimea sparks off quarrels  
You are here: 　 Home

Barca and Madrid maintain leadership duel, while Valencia move 3rd in matchday 27th

Xinhua, March 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

Real Madrid ended their disappointing and worrying fun of recent form with a 2-0 home win against Levante on Sunday night to remain 1 point behind FC Barcelona a week before they visit Barca in the Camp Nou Stadium.

Keylor Navas played in goal instead of Iker Casillas, but it was hard to judge the Costa Rican' s display given that Levante barely put up a fight and failed to produce a dangerous shot on target.

Gareth Bale scored both of Madrid' s goals before half time on a night where other good news was the return of Sergio Ramos and 77 minutes played by Luka Modric on a night where the fact Levante didn' t even have a player booked showed their level of commitment.

FC Barcelona had moved four points clear at the top of the Primera Liga on Saturday night thanks to a disciplined if unspectacular 2-0 win away to Eibar on Saturday evening.

Two goals from Leo Messi, his 31st and 32nd of the season, were enough to give Barcelona the three points

The first half saw Barca control most of the ball, but neither side managed a shot on target until the half hour when Messi' s shot deflected to hit Eibar defender Borja Ekiza on the arm and the Barca striker scored his 31st goal of the season from the penalty spot.

He then scored a diving header 10 minutes into the second half to double Barca' s lead and assure the points.

The battle for third and fourth place in the table also heated up over the past 24 hours as Valencia won 2-0 at home to Deportivo la Coruna to move into third place ahead of Atletico Madrid, who could only draw 0-0 away to Espanyol.

Atletico had the best of the few chances, despite playing with a player less for three quarters of the game after Joao Miranda was sent off for leading with his elbow in a jump, but the draw means their slim title chances have now disappeared for this season.

Sevilla also kept in the race for the Champions League with a 3-0 win over Elche thanks to two goals from Carlos Bacca and one from Kevin Gameiro in what was a comfortable win.

Sixth place Villarreal lost ground as they drew 0-0 away to relegation threatened Almeria, who should have won but for a dreadful miss from striker Tomer Hemed, who blazed over an open goal from five yards out.

Malaga meanwhile inflicted an eighth successive defeat on bottom of the table Cordoba with goals from Juanmi and Nordin Amrabat.

Saturday saw how goals from Aritz Aduriz and Mikel San Jose gave Athletic Club Bilbao their fourth consecutive triumph as they won 2-1 away to Celta Vigo, while Rayo Vallecano bounced back from last weekend' s 6-1 thrashing to Barcelona with a 3-1 home win against struggling Granada.

Granada had opened the scoring through Jhon Cordoba, but two more goals from Alberto Bueno helped overturn the score and lift Rayo clear of the relegation dogfight. Endi