Football: Real humiliate Barca
Three days after wrapping up the title Real Madrid showed Barcelona why they are the new Spanish champions crushing their arch rivals 4-1 in El Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.
An 18th goal of the season for Real captain Raul, another Arjen Robben header and strikes from substitutes Gonzalo Higuain and Ruud van Nistelrooy ensured a historic league double for Real, who won 1-0 at Camp Nou back in December, as they humiliated Barca to cap a fine season.
The loss means Barca must now qualify for the Champions League after losing second place to Villarreal who won 2-0 against Recreativo Huelva and are now seven points clear with two games remaining. Barca players greeted newly-crowned champions Real in the guard of honour as they ran onto the pitch – a moment for Real to treasure and for Barca to try to wipe from the memory.
After a 6-0 drubbing of Valencia Barca should have been full of confidence but that seeped away when Real got off to the dream start after just 12 minutes with Raul curling a brilliant left-footed finish past Victor Valdes. Barca were taunted by ‘oles’ and a chorus of ‘champions’ and it got worse when Robben bagged a second.
Robben said he had never scored a header after his vital goal in Sunday’s 2-1 win over Osasuna but he repeated the trick taking advantage of some non-existent marking.
Real were far superior and Higuain, the hero against Osasuna, scored a third just after the hour mark before van Nistelrooy converted a penalty.
Thierry Henry struck a late consolation for the visitors after a great pass from Barca’s shining light Lionel Messi before Barca lost Xavi for dissent seconds before the end.
When the final whistle blew Real fans applauded their team for a fine season in which they have retained the championship for the first time since 1990. Barca players trudged off and the Catalan club must rebuild for next season probably starting with a new manager. Frank Rijkaard is unlikely to be in charge with reserves coach Pep Guardiola emerging as the favourite to succeed the Dutchman.
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Add comment May 8th, 2008