Pro Eleven Headline News
Villarreal cancel Barcelona's title celebrations with last gasp equaliser
It is not yet Barcelona's title. When Daniel Alves curled home a free-kick on the stroke of half-time to put them 3-1 ahead of Villarreal, it seemed the race was at an end, only for the visitors to claw back the deficit as the match drew to an apparently celebratory close. Real Madrid can still dream – for that, they have Joseba Llorente's last minute equaliser to thank.
Barcelona had profited from the eccentric refereeing decisions of Tom Ovrebo when they beat Chelsea in their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday night, yet they will argue they were the team who were hard done by here.
Controversy stalked Eric Abidal at Stamford Bridge when he was harshly sent off for fouling Nicolas Anelka, and the left-back suffered a similar fate again when he was judged to have brought down Llorente in the area with 15 minutes remaining. Mati Fernandez scored the resultant penalty to set up a frantic finish. Then, in the second minute of stoppage time, Barcelona were unable to deal with an almighty scramble in their own box, and Llorente chipped Victor Valdes to silence a stunned Nou Camp.
Real's 3-0 defeat at Valencia last night had given Barcelona the chance to seal the title tonight, yet Juande Ramos's side could be forgiven for starting to believe fate may be on their side. Hopes of that sort may be fanciful, but a choke of this magnitude will haunt Barcelona until they play again.
There had been little sign of the drama to come after Seydou Keita had given Barcelona the perfect start after just 12 minutes. Running at a rapidly retreating Villarreal defence, the midfielder opted to try his luck from just outside the area, and his shot, having taken a heavy deflection, looped over the head of Diego Lopez.
That lead lasted just 10 minutes however, as Barcelona allowed complacency to creep into their play, and Villarreal threatened to spoil the party. Yaya Touré was the chief culprit, gifting the ball to Robert Pires, whose pass released Giuseppe Rossi, and the Italian's cross was converted by Llorente.
The equaliser rocked the hosts and only a brilliant save from Valdes prevented Rossi from heading Villarreal into the lead moments later. From such close range, the striker ought to have given Valdes no chance, but directed his attempt too near the goalkeeper.
It is unwise to pass up such inviting opportunities against such a dangerous team, and Samuel Eto'o ensured Rossi would regret his miss. The striker had benefitted from the creativity of Lionel Messi and the doggedness of Andrés Iniesta. Then, on the stroke of half-time, Alves's accurate free-kick was the signal for the Nou Camp to break out the Mexican Waves.
Those celebrations turned out to be misplaced. The advantage still lies with Barcelona though. They are eight points clear of Real with three games remaining, and have a stronger goal difference and head-to-head record. Even so, after tonight they remain unable to relax. Guardian.co.uk
Milan held by Juventus
Juventus held Milan to an entertaining 1-1 draw at the San Siro that saw the Rossoneri's title hopes fade.
Milan missed out on the chance to cut leaders Internazionale's lead to five points, while third-placed Juve are still four points behind the Rossoneri in the race for second.
Clarence Seedorf put Carlo Ancelotti's men ahead on 56 minutes after Massimo Ambrosini's mis-hit shot fell into his path but a superb diving header by Vincenzo Iaquinta four minutes later levelled an end-to-end match in which both sides had great chances to win.
Milan ended the game with 10 men after Giuseppe Favalli was sent off for an innocuous-looking challenge on Juve sub Alessandro Del Piero with five minutes remaining.
Until then, they dominated possession with Juventus preferring quick, direct counter-attacks and both styles were effective without cancelling each other out.
Juve almost drew first blood on 11 minutes but Christian Poulsen fired over after an Amauri knock-down from what became a typical Bianconeri long ball.
The visitors had another good chance five minutes later but were foiled by Mathieu Flamini's superb slide tackle to deny Marco Marchionni who went one-on-one with Zeljko Kalac.
Less than 60 seconds later Iaquinta had a good appeal for a penalty turned down when Flamini and Paolo Maldini seemed to bring him down in the Milan area, while the Italy striker was furious again after five minutes when he went down in the box under pressure from Flamini.
The rest of the first half saw Milan keep the ball well and both sides lookedfairly threatening but there were no more clear-cut chances until a rather eventful second 45 minutes.
The hosts should have taken the lead a minute and half after the restart, but Filippo Inzaghi headed wide after he was found unmarked by a David Beckham corner.
Flamini saved his side's bacon with another brilliant last-gasp tackle to prevent Amauri from a simple finish after Kalac fumbled a daisy-cutter by Iaquinta.
Milan took the lead though, when a quick break released Inzaghi down the left. He cut the ball back for Ambrosini, whose wild swing at the ball would have been embarrassing had it not landed at the feet of the onrushing Seedorf, who had a simple finish.
The advantage did not last long though as, on the hour mark, Mauro Camoranesi swung a dipping cross from the right over the head of Maldini and into the path of Iaquinta, who stooped ahead of makeshift right-back Flamini to head into the bottom-right corner.
With a draw not really good enough for either side, 'hell for leather' was the tone for the remainder of the match.
There were opportunities - Inzaghi and Ronaldinho went close for Milan while Iaquinta and Del Piero had chances for Claudio Ranieri's men.
There was controversy - Alexandre Pato was brought down by Nicola Legrottaglie but no penalty awarded, while Favalli was somewhat harshly dismissed after Del Piero theatrically hurled himself to the ground.
There were even handbags, when spectators were given the unusual sight of Maldini losing his cool and grappling with Giorgio Chiellini, an incident that saw both defenders booked.
However, there was no winning goal and a draw was a fair result in a match that suits Inter after their 2-2 draw at Chievo. Yahoo! eurosport
