Date:29/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/29/stories/2008102960812000.htm

Sport - Football

Villarreal and Atletico in thrilling draw

MADRID: It was a match of comebacks as Villarreal and 10-man Atletico Madrid served up the best game of the season with a thrilling 4-4 draw at El Madrigal on Sunday.

Atletico went two goals up after 22 minutes through Simao and Villarreal old boy Diego Forlan but the dismissal of Argentine Ever Banega after 37 minutes for a second yellow card turned the game on its head.

Villarreal scored three times in the first nine minutes of the second half with a Leo Franco howler allowing Marcos Senna’s tame shot to creep in three minutes after the interval, before Jose Llorente equalised on 51 minutes.

Centre-back Gonzalo Rodriguez then put the host ahead on 57 minutes and Giuseppe Rossi (68th) added a fourth as Atletico collapsed.

But there was yet another twist as Simao pulled one back for Atletico with his second goal on 83 minutes. Raul Garcia equalised in the 85th minute to make it 4-4.

The results:

Spanish League: Recreativo Huelva 1 (Camunas 47) drew with Valencia 1 (Villa 62); Getafe 1 (Diaz 31) bt Valladolid 0; Sevilla 0 lost to Malaga 1 (Adrian 15); Real Mallorca 3 (Aduriz 49, 60, Varela 76) bt Espanyol 0; Deportivo La Coruna 0 lost to Sporting Gijon 3 (Barral 22-pen, Carmelo 26, Castro 84); Numancia 2 (Barkero 25, Cisma 90) bt Racing Santander 1 (Tchite 90-pen); Villarreal 4 (Senna 48, Llorente 51, Gonzalo 57, Rossi 68) drew with Atletico Madrid 4 (Simao 1, 83, Forlan 22, Garcia 85); Real Madrid 3 (Sneijder 12, Higuain 28, 58) bt Athletic Bilbao 2 (Etxeberria 34, Iraola 44-pen).

Italian Serie ‘A’: Atalanta 0 lost to AC Milan 1 (Kaka 80), Cagliari 2 (Acquafresca 30, Fini 54) bt Chievo 0, Inter Milan 0 drew with Genoa 0, Lazio 0 lost to Napoli 1 (Siviglia 61-own goal); Reggina 2 (Corradi 59-pen, 90-pen) bt Lecce 0; Sampdoria 2 (Delvecchio 63, Bellucci 74) bt Bologna 0; Udinese 3 (Di Natale 10-pen, 51, Floro Flores 22) bt AS Roma 1 (Totti 74-pen); Palermo 3 (Gilardino 19, Mutu 41, 62) bt Fiorentina 1 (Simplicio 50) 3. — Agencies