CR7 nets 400th goal for Real as Los Blancos, Catalan giants set up title showdown
Madrid: The fight for the La Liga title will go down to the last day of the season after convincing wins for Barcelona and Real Madrid, Sunday left them locked together on 87 points at the top of the table.
Barca remain on top thanks to their better head-to-head record with Neymar scoring a hat-trick as they thrashed Las Palmas 4-1 in their away fixture. However, Madrid remain in the driving seat after the European champions saw off Sevilla 4-1 as they have two games remaining to Barca’s one.
Sevilla’s defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu also guarantees they will finish fourth and Atletico Madrid, who drew 1-1 at Real Betis, qualify automatically for next season’s Champions League in third.
Madrid visit Celta in their game in hand Wednesday and then travel to Malaga, whilst Barca host Eibar on the final day next Sunday.
Barcelona kept the pressure on despite a series of defensive absences that meant Brazilian 21-year-old Marlon Santos was handed a full debut in the Canary Islands.
After wonderful passes from Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta, Suarez squared for Neymar to open the scoring in the 25th minute. The roles were reversed two minutes later as Neymar’s chip freed Suarez to dink home his 36th goal of the season.
Pedro Bigas momentarily gave Las Palmas hope just after the hour mark. But Neymar headed home Ivan Rakitic’s cross and then sealed his first hat-trick of the season 19 minutes from time when he slotted in Jordi Alba’s through ball.
Meanwhile at Santiago Bernabeu, Nacho gave the hosts the lead in controversial fashion as he curled home a quick free-kick with the Sevilla defence caught unawares and their protests towards referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco falling on deaf ears.
Sevilla fired their first warning shot when Stefan Jovetic smashed a shot against the post from the edge of the area. However, moments later it was 2-0 as Sergio Rico could only palm James Rodriguez’s effort into the path of Cristiano Ronaldo to score his 400th Madrid goal.
Jovetic then saw a fine chipped effort come back off the bar and was denied by Keylor Navas when played through by Joaquin Correa as Sevilla continued to threaten. The visitors finally got back in the game through Jovetic’s neat finish from outside the box three minutes into the second half.
Yet, just as the hosts’ nerves were becoming frayed, Ronaldo appeared once more by crashing home Toni Kroos’s cut-back to restore Real’s two goal lead. And Kroos rounded off the scoring himself by prodding into the far corner six minutes from time.
PTI
