BECKS AND REAL CLOSE IN ON TITLE
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David Beckham needs one more win to sign off at Real Madrid with a Spanish league title after a dramatic penultimate round of matches. The Los Angeles Galaxy-bound former England captain played 90 minutes of his side's incredible 2-2 Primera Liga draw at Real Zaragoza.
Trailing twice and with title rivals Barcelona winning against Espanyol, Real's title hopes looked to be all but extinguished. But ex-Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy's double and a late equaliser for Espanyol at the Nou Camp ensured Real go into the final round of games next Sunday top of the table.
Level on points with Barca, a home win against Real Mallorca will guarantee Beckham a title winner's medal. Sevilla are not out of the title race, though, despite only managing a goalless draw with Real Mallorca. Juande Ramos' men were a long way from their best at Son Moix but they dug in despite the dismissal of Serbia defender Ivica Dragutinovic with 17 minutes to go.
The results leave Sevilla still two points adrift of the top two heading into the final weekend of the season. At the other end Levante ensured they will be playing Primera Liga football next season after defeating local rivals Valencia 4-2 in an incident-packed derby that saw six goals and four sendings-off.
Levante only needed a point to be sure of avoiding the drop, but they ended up claiming all three thanks to a brace from Mustapha Riga and further strikes from Salva Ballesta and Laurent Courtois. -
Lionel Messi scored a controversial 'handball' goal for Barcelona
Real Madrid were left on the verge of winning the Spanish title on Saturday after staging yet another dramatic comeback to grab a 2-2 draw at Real Zaragoza while Barcelona surrendered a lead to draw 2-2 with Espanyol.
Barca equalised when Lionel Messi emulated Diego Maradona's famous 'hand of god' goal just before halftime, launching himself at a cross and using his hand to steer the ball past Espanyol keeper Carlos Kameni.
Messi struck again early in the second half, this time with a legitimate goal, sweeping the ball home after a neat turn and pass from Deco.
Van Nistelrooy equalised for Real at almost the same time, but their title hopes appeared to have unravelled when Milito fired under Iker Casillas after a virtuoso run from Pablo Aimar.
Real were still behind in the title race when Van Nistelrooy scored his 25th goal of the season, poking home from a metre with a minute to go, but there was still one last twist to come.
A shaky-looking Barca back four left Tamudo free down the right after misjudging the offside trap and the Espanyol striker drilled a low angled shot past Victor Valdes to earn his side the 2-2 draw that put Real back on top.
On hearing of the goal in Barcelona, an ecstatic Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon ran down on to the pitch at La Romareda and gave a lap of honour to salute the travelling Real fans.
'It is going to be very difficult to digest this result,' said Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard. 'We missed a great chance, but we have to keep fighting while it is still mathematically possible. Tonight could have been so different.' -
So it's proven that Messi is the new Maradona.
Hand of Messi!
Anyway, Seville must be cursing themselves for missing the chance to go top after the top 2 dropped points this week.
Cheers.
CK -
juz like wad maradona didOriginally posted by zocoss:
Lionel Messi scored a controversial 'handball' goal for Barcelona
Real Madrid were left on the verge of winning the Spanish title on Saturday after staging yet another dramatic comeback to grab a 2-2 draw at Real Zaragoza while Barcelona surrendered a lead to draw 2-2 with Espanyol.
Barca equalised when Lionel Messi emulated Diego Maradona's famous 'hand of god' goal just before halftime, launching himself at a cross and using his hand to steer the ball past Espanyol keeper Carlos Kameni.
Messi struck again early in the second half, this time with a legitimate goal, sweeping the ball home after a neat turn and pass from Deco.
Van Nistelrooy equalised for Real at almost the same time, but their title hopes appeared to have unravelled when Milito fired under Iker Casillas after a virtuoso run from Pablo Aimar.
Real were still behind in the title race when Van Nistelrooy scored his 25th goal of the season, poking home from a metre with a minute to go, but there was still one last twist to come.
A shaky-looking Barca back four left Tamudo free down the right after misjudging the offside trap and the Espanyol striker drilled a low angled shot past Victor Valdes to earn his side the 2-2 draw that put Real back on top.
On hearing of the goal in Barcelona, an ecstatic Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon ran down on to the pitch at La Romareda and gave a lap of honour to salute the travelling Real fans.
'It is going to be very difficult to digest this result,' said Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard. 'We missed a great chance, but we have to keep fighting while it is still mathematically possible. Tonight could have been so different.'
guess messi too needed..
THE HAND OF GOD
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Then he need to take drugs and use air gun to shoot at paparazi to complete the tag of Maradona.Originally posted by ErikaChioBu:juz like wad maradona did
guess messi too needed..
THE HAND OF GOD -
Barca blew it..
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It's the Hand of God!
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i was stunned when i saw itOriginally posted by dinky1409: -
real will win it even though more ppl wants barca to win