Real Madrid reignited their title hopes with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory at home to Atletic Bilbao on Sunday.
MADRID: Real Madrid reignited their title hopes with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory at home to Atletic Bilbao on Sunday. With Barcelona, whose coach Frank Rijkaard rested Brazilian playmaker Ronaldinho, held 1-1 at Levante, Real had the chance to close the gap at the top to a single point.
That looked to be beyond them for more than an hour as Bilbao took the lead through Luis Prieto on 35 minutes and held on gamely in front of an onslaught in the second period. But as soon as the once derided Ronaldo levelled matters on 65 minutes, Real took control and there was only going to be one winner. Ronaldo’s Brazil teammate Roberto Carlos smashed home a long range winner with just eight minutes left to seal the matter.
The victory owed a lot to a double half-time substitution by coach Fabio Capello.
He took off defensive midfielder Emerson and the ineffective Jose Antonio Reyes and brought on former England captain David Beckham and three-time ‘world player of the year’ Ronaldo. And it was that pair that combined to level matters after Ruud van Nistelrooy had a goal ruled out for offside.
Madrid moved onto 29 points from 13 games, with Barcelona on 30 and Sevilla third on 28. Sevilla could have taken over top spot but they threw away a 1-0 half-time lead at Espanyol to lose 2-1. Atletico Madrid are fourth after their 1-0 win at Real Betis.
Meanwhile, Barcelona paid the price for resting star man Ronaldinho ahead of their crucial Champions League date with Werder Bremen on Tuesday. Andres Iniesta was brought in to replace Ronaldinho with Deco afforded the task of pulling the strings behind lone striker Eidur Gudjohnson.
But the gamble did not pay off despite Portuguese midfielder Deco’s brilliant first half free-kick giving the visitors the lead on 40 minutes. Brazilian defender Luis Alvaro equalised after finding himself unmarked at the back post from an Olivier Kapo free-kick.
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