Barcelona And Real Madrid Register Easy Wins To Keep The La Liga Title Race Interesting

By Vishal Singh | April 30, 2017 |
Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo reacts during the match.

REUTERS/Javier Barbancho bancho

The La Liga title race is no closer to being decided, as this weekend’s games saw both contenders Barcelona and Real Madrid register comfortable victories.

 

Real Madrid 2-1 Valencia

Zinedine Zidane’s side made a poor start to the game, but went ahead thanks to a towering header from Cristiano Ronaldo 27 minutes into the game. Both teams failed to get into their groove on the night, and the Portuguese missed a chance to put his side two up when his penalty was saved by Diego Alves in the second half.

Dani Parejo produced a moment of brilliance in the 82nd minute to add some restlessness to the Bernabeu atmosphere, as he sent home a well taken free-kick to put Valencia back level. But not long later, Marcelo came up with his own effort to give Real Madrid all three points and another crucial victory in the title race.

The former Manchester United winger has now surpassed former England, Tottenham, and Chelsea striker Jimmy Greaves as the all-time top scorer in Europe’s top six leagues. Jimmy Greaves held the record with 366 goals in 528 games.

Espanyol 0-3 Barcelona

Barcelona's Luis Suarez celebrates after scoring their first goal.

REUTERS/Albert Gea

In a derby that could have had its say on the title race, Barcelona managed to keep Espanyol quite for the fifth consecutive season, as they took home a comfortable 3-0 victory.

The Catalan giants had a poor first half where they hardly created anything, but a moment of madness from the hosts gifted Luis Suarez a goal early in the second half to end his long goal drought.

Midfielder Ivan Rakitic doubled Barcelona’s lead after some slick play from the league leaders, while another mistake from the home side gave Suarez his second.

Barcelona remain 1st in the La Liga table after this round, but Real Madrid are level on points, and still have that extra game in hand that could decide the title.

 

Written by Aakarsh Bommakanti  

A scholar in Cricket, an amateur in Football, a fanatic of both. Striving to learn by the day and writing to get closer to his first love, Liverpool Football Club. Work also featured by the4thofficial, Soccersouls, Sportswiki, Faceoffootball, Rousing the Kop.

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