Barcelona give their answer to Real and Ronaldo
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-02 10:14

Barcelona responded to the pressure placed on them by Real Madrid and Ronaldo by beating Albacete 2-0 to maintain their six point lead at the top of the Spanish first division.

FC Barcelona's Eto'o of Cameroon celebrates his first goal against Albacete during their Spanish League football match at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona. Barca won 2-0. [AFP]

Barca were making hard work of overcoming their struggling visitors, who had several chances in the first half, but one moment of brilliance from Samuel Eto'o turned the tide for Barcelona.

The African Player of the Year and Spanish first division's top scorer broke the deadlock after 66 minutes when he picked up a loose ball on the edge of the area and fired home an inch-perfect curling right foot shot.

With their noses in front, Barca never looked back.

The Catalan club's highly-rated 18-year-old midfielder Lionel Messi got their second goal just a few seconds before the end of regulation time.

Messi, who had only been on the field five minutes, got his first goal in Barca's senior ranks when he sent a delicate chip from the side of the box over the outstretched arms of Albacete goalkeeper Raul Valbuena.

Two late goals from Ronaldo saw Real Madrid win 2-0 at Real Sociedad on Saturday, to notch up their sixth consecutive victory.

"Everything is still possible. And Barcelona can be assured we're not going to hand the league title to them on a plate," said Real Madrid coach Wanderley Luxemburgo on Sunday.

Manchester United flop Diego Forlan scored twice to spark Villarreal to a 4-0 thrashing of Getafe on Sunday.

The Uruguayan striker continued to put behind him the dismal memories of his stint at Old Trafford with two goals to take his tally for the Spanish League season to 20.

The number is exactly double the number he managed in his three seasons playing in the English Premiership.

Juan Pablo Sorin got Villarreal off to a quick start heading home a Quique Alvarez corner after 13 minutes.

Forlan got his first of the day four minutes later, finishing off a neat cross from Luciano Figueroa.

Santi Cazorla put Villarreal three up from outside the area barely a minute after the break, before Forlan scored again after 52 minutes.

"This victory means that getting into the Champions League is now back in our own hands," said a satisfied Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini, whose team move up to fourth place.

"We found the goals in this game that we should have had against Real Madrid and Real Betis," added Pellegrini, reflecting on two recent games where Villarreal have dropped points.

Espanyol saw their own hopes of playing in Europe's top club competition for the first time take a knock when they went down 3-2 at struggling Real Mallorca.

Hugo Ibarra got the opener after 10 minutes for Espanyol, a left foot blast from beyond the border of the box, but three second half goals from Mallorca maintained their hopes of avoiding relegation.

However, the Barcelona-based visitors have only themselves to blame for the defeat, which leaves them down in sixth place.

Alejandro Campano brought Mallorca level five minutes after half time but Espanyol were reduced to 10 men just three minutes later after Alberto Lopo was sent off for a brutal tackle on Luis Garcia.

"These sort of things happen in away games. We went downhill from that point," said Espanyol coach Miguel Angel Lotina, reflecting on Lopo's dismissal.

"But the fact that this team is in the relegation zone should tell everybody about the standards of the league. This is a team with a lot of quality, good players and still they have a foot in the second division.

"All I can say is that this is a complicated league,"added Lotina ruefully.

Real Betis were held to a 1-1 draw at Racing Santander to stay seventh.

At the other end of the table, Malaga secured a 1-0 win at Levante with Fernando Baiano getting the only goal of the game after 39 minutes.

The result leaves Levante, last season's second division champions, perched just beyond the bottom three after failing to get a victory in their last five outings.

Levante coach Bernd Schuster was fired shortly after the end of the game.

Spanish League standings ahead of Sunday's late match, Sevilla v Deportivo La Coruna (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):

Barcelona 34 24 6 4 67 25 78

Real Madrid 34 23 3 8 61 29 72

Sevilla 33 16 7 10 40 36 55

Villarreal 34 15 10 9 59 33 55

Valencia 34 13 14 7 51 35 53

Espanyol 34 15 8 11 46 43 53

Real Betis 34 13 13 8 55 46 52

Real Zaragoza 34 14 7 13 47 47 49

Athletic Bilbao 34 13 9 12 54 46 48

Atletico Madrid 34 13 9 12 37 28 48

Deportivo La Coruna 33 11 13 9 41 42 46

Real Sociedad 34 13 6 15 44 49 45

Osasuna 34 12 7 15 42 59 43

Getafe 34 11 9 14 33 42 42

Malaga 34 12 6 16 33 45 42

Racing Santander 34 10 8 16 38 50 38

Levante 34 9 8 17 36 50 35

Real Mallorca 34 8 7 19 33 58 31

Numancia 34 5 9 20 25 55 24

Albacete 34 5 9 20 28 51 24

if teams are tied on points but have played each other home-and-away then positions are decided on head-to-head results, not goal difference.

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