Pro Eleven Headlines
Barcelona beats Recreativo to stretch lead in Spanish League
Lionel Messi and Seydou Keita scored second-half goals Sunday to give Barcelona a 2-0 victory over Recreativo Huelva and open up a three-point lead atop the Spanish league after its closest rivals all failed to win.
Messi fired a left-footed shot into the top corner at the near post in the 51st minute after a set move from a free kick.
After coming on as a substitute, Keita tapped in Samuel Eto'o's shot in the 86th to extend the Catalans' unbeaten run to 16 games - including nine straight league wins.
Barcelona has 28 points. Villarreal is second after allowing an injury-time goal to earlier draw 2-2 at Malaga.
Both Real Madrid and Valencia lost Saturday to stay on 23 points. They were joined by Sevilla after it won 2-0 at Getafe.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola is off to the best debut by a rookie coach since Carlos Alberto Silva with Deportivo La Coruna 12 years ago.
Recreativo goalkeeper Asier Riesgo was busy from the 20th as Messi's first shot on goal turned the momentum Barcelona's way.
Riesgo saved a shot from Messi again two minutes later before Jesus Vazquez blocked one from Eto'o right after.
Barcelona's Sergio Busquets volleyed over the bar in the 27th, and Riesgo got a hand down to tip Eto'o's shot wide a minute later.
Barcelona striker Thierry Henry's weak curled shot in the 37th was a poor finish after Messi's darting run, while Eto'o also shot over close to halftime.
Recreativo, which stayed second from bottom, threatened twice in the half but goalkeeper Victor Valdes caught Roberto Gaspar's free kick and Cesar Arzo's header.
Messi, who continued to create the majority of Barcelona's chances from the flank, took advantage of a dip in Recreativo's concentration to run on to Xavi Hernandez's sly pass from a free kick to score his seventh goal with a rising shot.
At Malaga, Helder Rosario headed from a tight angle past goalkeeper Diego Lopez as Malaga twice rallied for a point.
Villarreal went ahead in the eighth minute through Giuseppe Rossi, before Sergio (Duda) Barbosa swung a left-footed free kick over the defensive wall and past Lopez to make it 1-1 in the 30th.
Joseba Llorente, left off Spain's squad for a friendly against Chile on Wednesday, put Villarreal ahead again at the Rosaleda in the 50th minute with his sixth goal of the season.
Sevilla joined 11th-round losers Valencia and Real Madrid on 23 points after beating Getafe 2-0.
Sevilla's Ndri Romaric put Luis Fabiano, who scored a hat trick in a midweek Copa del Rey game, clear on goal in the 37th and the Brazil striker slid the ball through goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri's legs.
Young Belgium midfielder Tom de Mul scored his first goal for Sevilla in the 90th.
Getafe's Esteban Granero had a chance in the 26th from the penalty spot, but goalkeeper Andres Palop easily saved the midfielder's weak shot.
Atletico Madrid rallied from a poor draw in the domestic cup competition with a confident 4-1 win against Deportivo as Diego Forlan scored two second-half goals.
Dutch international John Heitinga scored his first goal for Atletico while Maxi Rodriguez also scored to lift some of the pressure off coach Javier Aguirre as Atletico jumped to sixth with 17 points.
Luis Filipe scored a late goal for Deportivo, which remained on 15 points.
At Seville, Sergio Garcia scored a goal in each half as Real Betis beat Racing Santander 3-1, with Achille Emana also scoring for Betis. Pedro Munitis got one back for Santander in the 86th.
Alvaro Negredo, also left off Spain manager Vicente del Bosque's squad, scored two goals - including the winning penalty - to lead Almeria to a 2-1 win over Mallorca, which found the net in the 90th through Alhassane Keita.
At Olimpico Lluis Companys stadium, substitute Carlos Bellvis scored deep into injury time as Numancia rallied for two goals in the closing stages in a 4-3 win at Espanyol.
Javier Bakera equalized in the 85th after Raul Tamudo had given Espanyol the lead from the spot in the 72nd.
Numancia had twice taken the lead through Txomin Nagori and Asier Goiria, only for Espanyol to rally both times with goals from Moises Hurtado and Daniel Jarque.
In an all-Basque clash, Joseba Garmendia scored in the 15th before Fernando Llorente celebrated his first Spain call-up with a goal in the 88th as Athletic Bilbao beat last-place Osasuna 2-0 for its first league victory in nearly two months.
Madrid coach Bernd Schuster's finds himself under increased pressure after the two-time defending Spanish champions lost 1-0 at Valladolid. Sporting Gijon handed Valencia a second straight home defeat in a 3-2 win.
Kaka helps AC Milan keep pace with Inter
Kaka converted a penalty kick in the 15th minute to give AC Milan a 1-0 win over Chievo at the San Siro on Sunday, keeping the Rossoneri within one point of league-leaders Inter Milan.
The penalty was the lone bright spot in an otherwise slow-paced first half as Ronaldinho chipped a ball into the box from the left wing for Kaka, who was tripped up inside the area by Chievo's Simone Bentivoglio.
Kaka picked himself up and stepped to the spot before driving the ball straight down the middle as Chievo goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino dove to his right.
Milan entered the match unbeaten in its last nine games in Serie A, and they were determined to make it 10 by looking to add to the lead in the second half.
Ronaldinho was at the center of the Milan attack, and he forced Sorrentino to make a good diving stop with his shot from 14 yards.
Goalkeeper Christian Abbiati was not very busy in the Milan net, but he was called upon in the 59th minute when Bentivoglio smashed a low shot for the bottom left corner from 35 yards. Abbiati reacted well and tipped the ball around the post, but it would be the last time he was seriously tested.
Pato was brought on as a substitute on the hour mark and he almost found the net with nine minutes to play as Ronaldinho slipped a neat pass behind the defense on the right, but Pato fired his shot into the keeper's legs, while Sorrentino denied Marek Jankulovski a late insurance tally.
Chievo has now dropped its last five games and sits at the bottom of the table after Reggina's surprising 1-0 win over Udinese on Sunday.
Napoli fell to fourth place after conceding two goals in the final two minutes of a 3-1 loss to Atalanta, Giuseppe Mascara scored three times in a 3-2 win for Catania against Torino, Robert Acquafresca's first-half penalty kick was enough for Cagliari to earn three points against Fiorentina in a 1-0 match, Sampdoria turned away Lecce 3-2 despite two goals from Simone Tiribocchi, Bologna and Siena played to a 1-1 draw and Roma edged Lazio 1-0.
BENZEMA READY TO MOVE
Manchester United and Real Madrid have been placed on alert by an announcement from Lyons striker Karim Benzema that he sees his future outside France at ‘one of Europe’s top clubs’. The prolific 20-year-old France international, valued at £85m by Lyons president Jean-Michel Aulas, says he wants to discuss his future at the end of the season. Benzema said: ‘There are a lot of clubs - Barcelona, Real Madrid, but also Manchester United, AC Milan. They are all clubs you dream about. I like Spain, but Manchester, Milan . . . you progress so much there and I want to be among the world's best’
