Real drubbing for Gijon, Barca overcome Betis

THE DESTROYER: Real Madrid's Rafael Van der Vaart celebrates scoring a goal against Sporting Gijon at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.

J & K | Chhattisgarh | Delhi | MP |
Mizoram | Rajasthan

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

26/11: Terror comes precariously close

Featured Slideshows

New Delhi: In La Liga action on Wednesday night, newly promoted side Sporting Gijon travelled to the home of two-time defending Champions Real Madrid.

Clearly the underdogs, Gijon held their own for the first 15 minutes at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid but soon lost the plot with Rafael Van der Vaart scoring two goals in quick succession for the Spanish giants.

Van der Vaart came back in the second half to make it a hat-trick for himself as Real tokk a 4-0 lead.

Gijon did get some consolation when Kike Mateo got a goal back for them. But the Real party was not over and skipper Raul stepped up to score two goals in succession before the final whistle.

The final margin of 7-1 in Real's favour showed that Gijon had a lot to learn to give a fight to the top Spanish clubs.

In another match, former champions Barcelona took on Real Betis at the Camp Nou. Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o got the home team an early lead by scoring a brace within the first 23 minutes.

Betis, however, came out strong in the second half with Luciano Monzon and Jose Mari equalising.

Barca substitute Eidur Gudjohnsen came to the rescue by connecting a ball on the half-volley that beat the goalkeeper and headed straight into the net.

Barcelona won 3-2 to keep their campaign on track.