Sport - Football

Sneijder leads Real Madrid to victory

Madrid: A first-half goal by Wesley Sneijder led Real Madrid to an unimpressive 1-0 win over Recreativo Huelva that failed to relieve pressure on under-fire coach Bernd Schuster in the Spanish football league on Saturday.

Meanwhile in the Italian Serie ‘A,’ Sulley Muntari scored a second-half goal to give Inter Milan a 1-0 win over Juventus to stay on top.

Sneijder was Madrid’s most dangerous player on Saturday, and the Netherlands midfielder scored in the 39th minute with a long-range deflected shot that dipped over goalkeeper Asier Riesgo.

Spanish champion Madrid snapped a three-game winless run in the league to move within two points of leader Barcelona. Barcelona has 28 points to be three ahead of Villarreal, which lost 3-0 to Valladolid for its first home defeat in nearly a year. Both Sevilla and Valencia improved to 24 points after drawing 0-0 in Saturday’s late match.

But an unconvincing victory against a team that is next to last is unlikely to relieve all of the pressure on Schuster, who picked up his 35th victory in 50 league games with Madrid.

Gonzalo Higuain, who leads the team with nine goals, pulled up clutching his left ankle after chasing a ball in the 76th. The Argentine striker, who was carried off on a stretcher, is likely to miss Tuesday’s Champions League match at BATE Borisov with a severe sprain.

Sneijder could also join the handful of Madrid’s international players missing to injury.

At El Madrigal, Villarreal’s unbeaten league record was undone by a late first-half collapse led by Jonathan Sesma and now it must rebound for an important midweek Champions League game against Manchester United.

Sesma scored inside the area in the 24th and took advantage of a 44th-minute blunder by goalkeeper Diego Lopez for a second. Pedro Leon shot under Lopez moments later as Valladolid followed up last week’s 1-0 win over Madrid with another three points against a league contender.

In Italy, Inter Milan’s Muntari tapped in a pass from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 72nd minute for his first goal of the year on Saturday.

Ibrahimovic had failed to convert Inter’s two best chances before the goal, shooting just wide in the 33rd and again in the 65th.

Inter has 30 points, four more than AC Milan. Juventus has 24 points, while Napoli is fourth with 23. In Florence, Fiorentina scored four second-half goals to come from behind to defeat Udinese 4-2.

Important results: On Saturday: Spanish league: Sevilla 0 drew with Valencia 0; Real Madrid 1 (Wesley Sneijder 39) bt Recreativo Huelva 0; Villarreal 0 lost to Real Valladolid 3 (Jonathan Sesma 25, 44, Pedro Leon 46).

Italian Serie ‘A’: Inter Milan 1 (Sulley Muntari 72) bt Juventus 0; Fiorentina 4 (Adrian Mutu 52-pen, Riccardo Montolivo 63, 78, Alberto Gilardino 79) bt Udinese 2 (Antonio Flores 29, Antonio Di Natale 83-pen). — Agencies

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