Real Madrid overpower Barcelona 4-2
(msn.foxsports.com)
Updated: 2005-04-11 08:21

Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and Raul Gonzalez scored first-half goals Sunday to help Real Madrid to a 4-2 victory over Spanish league leader FC Barcelona in the 150th league meeting between the country's biggest teams.

Real Madrid's Raul (L) celebrates his goal against Barcelona with teammate Brazilian Roberto Carlos (R) during their Premier League football match. Real Madrid won 4-2. [AFP]

Michael Owen added Madrid's fourth goal after halftime at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, reducing Barcelona's lead to six points with seven rounds to play.

League-leading scorer Samuel Eto'o scored his 21st goal of the season for Barcelona, but the Cameroon striker was carried off with what appeared to be a serious knee injury in the second half. Ronaldinho netted Barcelona's second goal.

Also, Sevilla downed Espanyol 3-1 and moved into third place, Real Betis drew 2-2 with Levante, while Valencia drew 2-2 with Malaga.

In other games, it was: Osasuna 1, Racing Santander 0; Mallorca 0, Zaragoza 2; and Getafe 1, Albacete 0. Deportivo La Coruna hosted Villarreal in Sunday's late game.

Barcelona still leads the league with 69 points, followed by Madrid with 63. Sevilla is next with 52 points, two more than Villarreal, which has a game in hand. Betis also has 50 points, while Espanyol drops to sixth with 49, one more than Valencia.

On Saturday, Athletic Bilbao crushed Real Sociedad 3-0, and last-place Numancia beat Atletico Madrid 1-0.

Madrid, which started Owen instead of Luis Figo and played without suspended defender Walter Samuel, started strong and took the lead in the seventh minute when Zidane dived to head home a chip from Ronaldo.

Barcelona, which played without suspended Deco, responded by pushing forward but was set back by a second goal in the 20th minute when Ronaldo headed home David Beckham's floated free kick.

Ronaldo's goal was just his second in his last 15 games for Madrid and Brazil.

In the 29th, Eto'o sped through the Madrid defense and poked the ball past goalkeeper Iker Casillas to reduce the deficit.

Despite a period of shaky play, Madrid stunned Barcelona with a third goal on the stroke of halftime when Raul turned home a low cross from the right by left back Roberto Carlos, who was celebrating his 32nd birthday. It was Raul's first league goal in two months.

Owen stretched Madrid's lead in the 65th minute after running on to meet Beckham's pass and drilling the ball past goalkeeper Victor Valdes for his 11th goal of the season.

Ronaldinho curled home a free kick on the edge of the area for Barcelona's second goal in the 73rd, but the team suffered a heavy blow three minutes later when Eto'o pulled up with an injury.

Earlier, Sevilla forward Julio Baptista scored his 14th goal of the season to boost his team's hopes of a debut in next season's Champions League.

Baptista rounded goalkeeper Carlos Kameni to net his team's second goal at Espanyol's Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in the 17th minute, adding to an opening strike by midfielder Jordi Lopez eight minutes earlier.

Espanyol substitute Jonathan Soriano pulled a goal back in the 73rd, with Sevilla's Brazilian midfielder Daniel Alves scoring in injury time.

Betis missed out on third place with a 2-2 home draw against modest Levante.

Brazilian forward Edu Schmidt netted in the 11th minute, with the visitors leveling in the 25th through midfielder Alberto Rivera.

Ricardo Oliveira restored the lead in the 32nd minute with his 17th goal of the season, only for forward Juanma Gomez to fire the equalizer in the 67th.

Marco Di Vaio's two first-half goals weren't enough for the defending champion to beat Malaga at home.

Fernando Baiano scored for Malaga in the 35th, with Portuguese midfielder Duda Barbosa leveling in injury time after a mistake by goalkeeper Santiago Canizares.

Osasuna gained its first win in 13 games courtesy of striker Pierre Webo's 48th-minute header against Santander.

Second-half goals by Zaragoza's Brazilian forward Savio Bortolini and substitute David Villa defeated 18th-place Mallorca and piled on its relegation worries.

No. 19 Albacete's concerns also increased with a defeat at Getafe. The only goal came from midfielder Angel Vivar Dorado in the 65th.

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