Real Madrid is realy doing terrible this season and I can't see why. With all those super stars they have you would think they would at least beaten Villareal 1-0.
ZAGREB, Croatia - A Croatian fan sitting courtside waved a sign as James Blake was about to serve: ``You can't beat without Pete.''
At one point, Blake shouted at the fan holding the Sampras banner, ``Put the sign down!''
A fan replied, ``Go home, James.''
I like Zidane more than Ballack and I do think Zidane is better but now that he's ageing he's out of it so I guess Ballack would be a good replacement. But I still like Zidane better
Actually now that I think of it Real Madrid needs to change the team quite a bit. I player different is not gonna change anything. Oviously they need to also learn how to work as a team so an even better coach should also be made.
they need to stop thinking the most expensive players are the best they have no team chemistry
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ZAGREB, Croatia - A Croatian fan sitting courtside waved a sign as James Blake was about to serve: ``You can't beat without Pete.''
At one point, Blake shouted at the fan holding the Sampras banner, ``Put the sign down!''
A fan replied, ``Go home, James.''
Scoreless tie gives hope to coach López Caro, but Barcelona wins again to extend lead
El Pais Spain | J. F. Madrid
Despite a scoreless tie, Real Madrid showed some improvement on Sunday against Villarreal. Real's coach, José Ramón López Caro, has built a stronger block though yesterday they lacked scoring capacity to beat Villarreal - fourth with one point more than Real, which is fifth - in the overall standings.
On Saturday Barcelona racked up its 15th consecutive win, 11 of them in La Liga. Barça is cruising at the top of La Liga, four points ahead of second-placed Osasuna and 13 over Real, after beating Espanyol Saturday in the Catalan derby.
It was a high-voltage game on a rainy night in Espanyol's Montjuïc stadium, where Barcelona's central midfielders Thiago Motta and Deco imposed their muscle to handle the game at will. The Brazilian (although Deco is now a Portugal player) pairing allowed Barcelona to have most of the possession, attacking Espanyol's goal at will.
Argentine forward Leo Messi kept threatening the rival defense from the right wing, while Ronaldinho did so from the left. In the center Samuel Eto'o was always there, ready to pull the trigger.
Espanyol's solid defensive wall lasted until minute 43, when Cameroonian goalkeeper Kameni rejected a great shot from Ronaldinho and the ball landed on the foot of Deco, just outside the penalty area. The Portuguese playmaker dribbled past defender Costa and his fairly straight shot deceived the diving Kameni.
Having scored nine deflected goals since he arrived in Barcelona, Deco showed again on Saturday his ability to decide tight games, the kind which could go either way. But Barcelona had to finish the job without the former Porto player, Deco colliding with Motta after an hour's play and having to be stretchered off. He left hospital yesterday having suffered concussion.
Espanyol's goalkeeper admitted he made a mistake in that first goal of the game and some Espanyol fans, angry with what they claim is inconsistency from the goalkeeper, insulted him.
Eto'o, his friend and team-mate in Cameroon's national team, scored the second for Barça at the start of the second half. Running onto Ronaldinho's pass, Eto'o slipped past defender Jarque and poked a shot past Kameni for his 18th goal in 18 games this season.
At 2-0 the game seemed over, but Espanyol kept trying and got a reward. Barcelona's defense failed to cover its left side and striker Raúl Tamudo found a gap after receiving Fredson's cross through which he could score his 99th goal in 270 games for Espanyol.
Also on Saturday night, Deportivo Coruña beat Athletic 2-1 in Bilbao's San Mamés stadium "with a little bit of luck" as Joaquín Caparrós, coach of the Galician team, admitted.
In minute 25, Deportivo scored its first goal without even having managed a single shot on goal. It was a Bilbao defender who deflected a cross from Deportivo's Juan Valerón into his own net. Striker Ismael Urzaiz leveled the score with a header after 58 minutes, while Javier Arizmendi netted the winner five minutes later.
Osasuna's run of nine home wins ended on Sunday with a 1-1 tie against Racing Santander. Valencia was at Atlético de Madrid at print time.
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ZAGREB, Croatia - A Croatian fan sitting courtside waved a sign as James Blake was about to serve: ``You can't beat without Pete.''
At one point, Blake shouted at the fan holding the Sampras banner, ``Put the sign down!''
A fan replied, ``Go home, James.''
Real will join a high-powered line-up for the quarter-finals that includes holders Real Betis, in-form Barcelona, Valencia, Deportivo Coruna, Espanyol, Cadiz and the winner of the postponed tie between Real Zaragoza and Atletico Madrid.
Barca powered their way into the last eight with a 6-0 win over third division Zamora on Wednesday, Valencia beat regional rivals Villarreal 3-0 on aggregate, while Deportivo went through 4-2 despite losing 2-1 in the second leg to Osasuna.
Real, who held a 1-0 lead after the first-leg at San Mames thanks to a David Beckham strike, made a cagey start at the Bernabeu and rarely ventured out of midfield in the opening quarter of an hour.
They were gifted a great chance to take the lead when Guti robbed the ball after a Bilbao corner and put Robinho in the clear, but the Brazilian wasted the opportunity by misjudging his pass to the unmarked Julio Baptista in the area.
Robinho atoned for his error, however, when he tore through the middle of the Bilbao defence after picking up a fine pass from Guti and calmly drilled the ball past keeper Inaki Lafuente on the half hour.
Real eased up for the remainder of the half while Bilbao, who are languishing in the relegation zone, appeared to have their minds on Sunday's league clash against leaders Barcelona.
Real stepped up a gear after the break and extended their lead on 65 minutes when Ramos chested the ball over the line after a Beckham free kick had bobbled its way across the area.
Soldado, getting a rare run out in the starting line-up in the absence of the injured Ronaldo, made it 3-0 two minutes from time when he sent a marvellous glancing header into the top corner after a fine cross from Raul Bravo.
Contented Real fans began to stream towards the exits before the final whistle, but Robinho brought further cheers from the crowd when he added a fourth.
The slightly built Brazilian, who had early spurned a golden chance to score a second, completed his double when he smashed into the open net after Beckham had cut the ball back from the byline deep into injury time.
The draw for the quarter-finals will take place on Friday.
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ZAGREB, Croatia - A Croatian fan sitting courtside waved a sign as James Blake was about to serve: ``You can't beat without Pete.''
At one point, Blake shouted at the fan holding the Sampras banner, ``Put the sign down!''
A fan replied, ``Go home, James.''
