Barcelona
maintained their winning start to the season with a fine strike from Adriano
Correia giving them a 1-0 victory over Valencia in La Liga action on Sunday.
The
Catalan side may have lost the domestic Super Cup to Real Madrid in midweek but
they have now picked up maximum points from their first three league games that
keeps them top of the table.
It also
maintained their five-point lead over defending champions Real, who earlier
beat Granada 3-0, Cristiano Ronaldo hitting a brace to reach a landmark 150
goals in 149 games for the capital club.
Barca
full-back Adriano's drive from outside the area after 23 minutes was the only
goal of the game at the Nou Camp against a Valencia side who battled hard but
spent most of the game defending deeply.
Former
Arsenal midfielder Alex Song made his first start in a Barca shirt with Sergio
Busquets rested and played alongside Xavi Hernandez and Cesc Fabregas who
returned to the starting line-up.
Roberto
Soldado went within inches of giving Valencia the lead after 11 minutes with a
25-yard strike which whistled past the post.
Lionel
Messi had a header saved by keeper Diego Alves after 18 minutes but the
Valencia shot-stopper could do nothing about Adriano's sweetly struck drive
minutes later.
There
may have been a change of coach in the summer with the departure of Pep
Guardiola and the arrival of Tito Vilanova but the football has remained the
same and Barca knocked the ball around inside the Valencia half in trademark
fashion.
Cesc had
the opportunity to extend the lead but with time in the box after receiving the
ball from Messi he dinked the ball wide. It has been a disappointing start to
the campaign for Cesc and after the restart he blazed over from in front of
goal.
Valencia
were hanging on but without a second goal Barca could not relax and had their
hearts in their mouth several times especially when Victor Ruiz put the ball in
the back of the net on the hour mark but was ruled off-side.
Earlier
in the evening, Cristiano Ronaldo hit a brace to help Real Madrid get their
league campaign back against 10-man Granada.
Despite
their cup win the pressure was starting to grow on the team with just a point
from their opening two league games but Ronaldo responded with a goal in either
half to continue his remarkable scoring run in Madrid.
The
first owed as much to poor keeping from Antonio 'Tono' Rodriguez as the
Portuguese's shot from a tight angle after 25 minutes went through his legs,
although it did take a slight deflection off Inigo Lopez.
Ronaldo
got his second after 53 minutes and Granada's hopes of a comeback took a blow
with Borja Gomez sent off six minutes later. Substitute Gonzalo Higuain
completed the scoring with a tap-in 15 minutes from the end.
Still
Real lacked fluidity in their passing which Jose Mourinho pointed out
afterwards.
"I
did not like the game as we had little rhythm. We have had little time to work
this week and we were slow. We got the points but that is not enough, we have
to play better," he said.
Luka
Modric was given a starting place after he came on for the last few minutes
against Barca and threaded the ball through to Jose Callejon inside the first
few minutes but ‘keeper Tono got down well to block him.
Ronaldo
had looked sluggish in his first two league games and he failed to trouble the
'keeper with a free-kick and a couple of shots from distance before he did
break the deadlock with a soft goal from Granada's perspective.
The
visitors had shown nothing going forward and were now forced to come out of
their shells but it was Ronaldo that could have added a second before the break
with a drive which Tono was alert to.
Angel Di
Maria came on after half time and he set up Ronaldo, who saw his shot from
inside the box saved by Tono before reacting to knock home the rebound.
Gomez
was given his second yellow card for a foul on Ronaldo and then Higuain sealed
the win from a Benzema pass.
Earlier
Rayo Vallecano drew 0-0 with Sevilla and Athletic Bilbao overcame Valladolid
2-0, while Levante dramatically came from behind to beat Espanyol 3-2, with
defender Raul Rodriguez deflecting the ball into his own net in time added on
to decide the game in the home side's favour.
Source: MSN.Com
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