Ronaldo rescues Real

Posted Monday, April 18, 2011 by Supersport.com

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo both scored penalties for their 30th league goals of the season as Barcelona stayed on course for the Spanish league title following a 1-1 draw with 10-man Real Madrid in 'El Clasico' at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.

Barcelona stayed on course for a third successive league title as they maintained their eight point cushion over Madrid with six games left, but will rue the missed chance to wrap up the league after Lionel Messi had opened the scoring with a 53rd minute penalty.

Real were down to ten men with centre-back Raul Albiol sent off for conceding the spot-kick but Madrid levelled on 82 minutes through Cristiano Ronaldo.

The draw brought an end to Barcelona's five straight wins over their rivals and ended coach Pep Guardiola's 100 per cent record in the fixture.

Real boss Jose Mourinho had seen Barcelona thump his side 5-0 in the first 'El Clasico' at Camp Nou and still waits for his first win in the fixture, but will have another shot on Wednesday when Madrid face Barcelona in the Kings Cup final.

Mourinho opted for a more muscular midfield with defender Pepe playing alongside Sami Khedira, while the more creative Mesut Ozil dropped to the substitutes bench.

Barcelona sprung a big surprise with captain Carles Puyol starting in central defence in his first game since being sidelined with a knee injury in mid-January.

A sea of white flags created an intimidating atmosphere at the Bernabeu and Madrid were pressing hard to disrupt Barcelona's fluid passing game.

It was Mourinho's 50th competitive game in charge of Madrid and his side were sitting deep and playing on the counter attack, which didn't sit too well with the home fans.

On 18 minutes Barcelona almost went ahead with a long spell of possession resulting in a clever ball over the top for Messi, but the Argentine's chip was saved by Iker Casillas.

PENALTY STORM

Casillas was at the centre of a penalty storm on 26 minutes with Barcelona furious at seeing their appeals turned down.

David Villa got to the ball just before Casillas and went to ground and all the Barca players put their hands up claiming a penalty, but the referee was not interested.

Real had largely been playing on the counter attack and Ronaldo had their first opening on 34 minutes only for Adriano to snatch the ball off his toe as he was prepared to shoot.

As half-time approached Messi forced a save from Casillas and Real went agonisingly close as Ronaldo's header was cleared off the line by Adriano.

Four minutes after the interval Ronaldo won, and then took a free-kick from the edge of the penalty and thumped the left hand post with Victor Valdes well beaten.

It was a warning but Barcelona then won a penalty on 53 minutes with Albiol pulling down Villa and receiving a red card to hit the hosts with a double punishment.

Messi lifted his penalty past Casillas to put Barca ahead and score against a Mourinho team for the first time in his career.

Xavi hit the crossbar on the hour mark for Barca with Casillas beaten and minutes later Pepe headed against the post as Madrid rallied.

Substitute Emmanuel Adebayor had a good chance for Real on 69 minutes but his poor control with his head let him down at the decisive moment.

With eight minutes to go Marcelo was felled by Brazilian compatriot in the box and Ronaldo made no mistake with the spot-kick smashing it into the top corner for his first Clasico goal.

Earlier, Spanish forward Roberto Soldado made it seven goals in his last three league games as Valencia won 3-0 at bottom side Almeria on Saturday to tighten their grip on third place.

Soldado headed in a Jeremy Mathieu cross five minutes after the break to notch his 13th league goal of the campaign before Lithuanian Marius Stankevicius and Jordi Alba sealed Valencia's 10th away win of the season.

Valencia move nine points ahead of fourth-placed Villarreal and take a giant step towards third and the final automatic Champions League berth.