Barcelona’s Jeremy Mathieu’s header saw off Celta Vigo. Source: AP
Jeremy Mathieu headed home a vital winner 16 minutes from time as Barcelona ground out a 1-0 win at Celta Vigo to remain four points clear of Real Madrid in La Liga on Sunday.
Mathieu had opened the scoring in Barca’s 2-1 victory over Madrid last time out and just his second league goal for Barca could be just as crucial as they laboured for long spells against a well-organised Celta side.
Celta stunned Barca at the Camp Nou when they last met back in November and the visitors knew they were in for another uncomfortable 90 minutes when Claudio Bravo had to turn away former Barca forward Nolito’s low drive 10 minutes in.
At the other end Messi was first to threaten as Sergio Alvarez did well to parry his curling effort before Neymar fired the rebound well over.
The best chance by of the opening 45 minutes fell to Celta’s Joaquin Larrivey, but the man who scored the winner at the Camp Nou blazed over with just Bravo to beat.
Barca started the second period brightly and could have been in front as Neymar had a sweetly struck goal ruled out for a marginal offside call.
In the end the visitors had to rely on a set-piece to get the job done as a wonderful in-swinging free-kick from Xavi was met by a equally good header by Mathieu to thunder the ball in off the crossbar.
Celta then ended the game with 10 men as Fabian Orellana was sent off in bizarre circumstances for throwing a clump of turf at Sergio Busquets.
“It was a very difficult game,” admitted Mathieu.
“After the international break it is more difficult because the rhythm always drops a little.
“Celta were better in the first-half and in the second we managed to win with a goal from a set-piece. Sometimes matches are won like this on small details.” However, a lean night in front of goal for Lionel Messi means Ronaldo’s quintuple takes him four clear of the Argentine in the race to be La Liga’s top goalscorer.
Paris Saint Germain Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic thge picture of calmness. Source: AFP
LIGUE 1
Paris Saint-Germain moved back above Lyon to the top in a hard-fought French title race after twice coming back from a goal down to win 3-2 away to bitter rival Marseille in a frenzied match on Sunday.
However, the win came at a high price as David Luiz and Thiago Motta went off injured with PSG facing a hectic schedule chasing trophies on four fronts.
Luiz limped off after appearing to pull a hamstring and Motta trudged off right before the end with a similar-looking injury. PSG recently lost central midfielder Yohan Cabaye to a muscle injury, while Brazil winger Lucas is still trying to regain full fitness.
Paris Saint Germain Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic (R) celebrates with Marco Verratti. Source: AFP
PSG has a French Cup semifinal against Saint-Etienne on Wednesday, followed by the League Cup final against Bastia on Saturday and the first leg of its Champions League quarterfinal against Barcelona four days later.
Marseille’s top scorer Andre-Pierre Gignac struck twice in the first half, either side of France midfielder Blaise Matuidi’s equalizer, to put Marseille in charge. But PSG profited from poor defending to score twice in quick succession at the start of the second half.
Brazilian defender Marquinhos equalized and Marseille defender Jeremy Morel scored an own goal moments later.
Paris Saint-Germain’s Brazilian defender Marquinhos finds the back of the net. Source: AFP
“It’s a fair result. It was a match of opposing styles and PSG came out on top,” Marseille coach Marcelo Bielsa said. “It was nothing to do with luck or anything else, that’s why we have no excuses.”
Tensions mounted when some Marseille fans threw projectiles at the PSG bus as it pulled into the Stade Velodrome stadium, with one window slightly cracked.
PSG is one point above Lyon and five ahead of third-place Marseille with seven games remaining.
Earlier, winger Nicolas Maurice-Belay’s first goal since August proved timely one it helped Bordeaux beat Lens 2-1 and keep its Europa League hopes alive.
Meanwhile, Caen won 2-1 win at Nantes.
source:news.com.au
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 