The Hindu : Real Sociedad back on top

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 25, 2003

Sport

Sport - Football

Real Sociedad back on top

LONDON FEB. 24. Real Madrid spent a night in first place, thanks to a game-winning goal from Ronaldo, but Real Sociedad's first win in its last four Spanish football league matches put it back on top on Sunday.

In Italy, Inter Milan and Juventus stayed tied atop the Serie A standings while AC Milan's match at Torino was suspended because of fan violence with the visitors leading 3-0.

Arsenal stretched its lead in the English Premier League to five points after beating Manchester City 5-1 while Bayern Munich moved 10 points clear in the German Bundesliga with a 2-0 win over Nuremburg.

Ronaldo's match-winner on Saturday put Real Madrid in first place with a 3-1 win over Valladolid. Roberto Carlos and Javier Portillo also scored for Madrid while Fernando Sales scored for the visitors.

Sociedad, which has led the Spanish league since October, beat Osasuna 2-0 with goals from Darko Kovacevic and Mikel Alonso to take back the lead.

Inter and Juventus enjoyed easy wins as the Milan side beat Piacenza 3-1 and defending champion Juventus beat Como by the same score.

Valencia in third place

Defending Spanish champion Valencia stayed in third place by beating Rayo Vallecano 4-0, while Diego Tristan scored a hat-trick and Roy Makaay added two more as Deportivo de La Coruna trounced Alaves 6-0.

FC Barcelona continued its resurrection under coach Radomir Antic, beating Betis 4-0 thanks to a hat-trick from Argentine Javier Saviola.

Sociedad leads the league with 47, followed by Madrid and Valencia with 45 each. Deportivo is next with 42.

Juventus posts win

Flu-stricken Juventus downed last-place Como as Marco Di Vaio and Mauro German Camoranesi scored for Juventus and Juarez added an own-goal. Fabio Pecchia scored for Como.

Inter, which got three goals in four minutes from Gabriel Batistuta and Christian Vieri, trounced Piacenza.

Saturday night's match between struggling Torino and AC Milan was stopped in the 63rd minute as the two teams were unable to continue play amid fumes of tear gas canisters fired by riot police. Clarence Seedorf scored two and Filippo Inzaghi added the third.

Juventus and Inter have 48 points each, followed by AC Milan with 43, Lazio with 40 and Chievo with 37.

Arsenal on the rampage

Defending champion Arsenal got its first goal from Dennis Bergkamp, and Robert Pires, Thierry Henry, Sol Campbell and Patrick Vieira followed. Nicolas Anelka scored a consolation goal for Manchester City.

Manchester United was unable to keep pace at the top, coming from behind to draw 1-1 with Bolton. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored in injury time for the Red Devils.

Newcastle moved into third place with a 3-0 win over Leeds and Everton rallied with two late goals by Tomasz Radzinski to upend Southampton 2-1.

Arsenal is in first place with 60 points, followed by Man United with 55 and Newcastle with 52. Chelsea and Everton are next with 48 points each.

Bayern's run continues

Bixente Lizarazu and Giovane Elber helped Bayern Munich beat Nuremberg, running its home unbeaten streak to 31 matches.

Second-place Borussia Dortmund fell a further two points behind, playing out a 2-2 draw with Schalke. Jan Koller and Ewerthon scored for Dortmund to erase a two-goal deficit.

Bayern leads the league with 50 points, well ahead of Dortmund with 40. Stuttgart, which beat Borussia Monchengladbach 4-0, is next with 39, followed by Schalke with 36.

PSV Eindhoven stretches lead

PSV Eindhoven stretched its lead in the Dutch premiership to seven points after beating NAC Breda 1-0 while second-place Ajax lost its second match of the season, falling to FC Utrecht 1-0.

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink got the winner for PSV while Dirk Kuyt sank Ajax.

Feyenoord topped FC Groningen 4-1 to put itself back in the running for the Dutch league's second Champions League spot.

PSV leads the league with 54 points, followed by Ajax with 47 and Feyenoord with 43.

Panathinaikos in lead

Red-hot Nikos Lymberopoulos scored two goals as Panathinaikos stayed atop the Greek league after beating Aris 3-1. Lymberopoulos has scored eight goals in his last six league matches.

Defending champion Olympiakos stayed second by holding off a fighting PAOK Thessaloniki 4-3. Pandelis Kaffes scored all three for PAOK.

Panathinaikos, which has won nine straight, is in first place with 47 points, followed by Olympiakos with 45 and PAOK with 39. AEK, which beat Kallithea 3-1 behind three Vassilis Tsartas goals, has 38.

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