| BARCELONA,
February 6 (Primera Liga) - Two goals from Fernando Torres
saw Atletico Madrid end Barcelona's unbeaten home record on
Sunday night.
The setback for the Catalan giants has reopened the race
for the Primera Liga title and now Barca lead bitter rivals
Real Madrid by only four points.
Torres pounced in the opening minute and then scored a
penalty in injury-time to give the points to Atletico.
FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldinho missed a penalty
which would have allowed Barcelona to get back into the
game after 69 minutes.
Once more racism reared its head in the Liga with pre-match
appeals to desist from racial chanting falling on deaf ears
as Atletico's Luis Perea was targeted by home fans.
Barcelona got the worst possible start, conceding a goal
with just a minute on the clock as a result of clinical
finishing from Torres.
The backline were caught napping as Ariel Ibagaza brilliantly
flicked on a ball to the striker known as ``El Nino''.
Torres took it in his stride before shooting into a corner
left-footed from 15 yards.
The home side tried to hit back and were posing problems
if no real openings.
A Ludovic Giuly cross was knocked behind for a corner and
Deco was crafting delightful balls for the forward line
but Atletico's defence was holding firm.
In fact Perea was doing an excellent job containing the
live-wire Samuel Eto'o, matching him step for step.
Eto'o did have an opening on the edge of the area midway
through the first half but his shot wide belied the excellent
build-up play which had seen Xavi Hernandez flick a Ronaldinho
ball into the path of the Cameroon international.
Both sides were battling hard and strong challenges were
keeping the fans animated.
Meanwhile, no penalty was awarded when Giuly went down
in the box under a challenge from Pablo Ibanez and Perea.
Atletico were unsettling Barca sufficiently to prevent
the Azulgrana from playing their normal passing game.
As the first half came to an end Atletico had chances to
go further ahead.
First Victor Valdes excellently parried a Torres shot and
then Marcelo Sosa failed to connect with a long ball into
the area.
Coach Frank Rijkaard brought the experienced Demetrio Albertini
on for Rafael Marquez as a direct swap at the start of the
second half hoping that the Italian's more incisive passing
could improve the team.
But Barca were out of sorts and relying on long balls to
find Ronaldinho and Eto'o.
Youngster Andres Iniesta was then brought on for the ineffective
Giuly and almost made an immediate impact dribbling into
the area but Perea was able to dispossess him.
Ronaldinho was handed the chance to equalise on a plate
with 20 minutes to go but shot wide with his spot-kick.
Eto'o was upended by Perea but while TV replays showed
he was outside the box the referee Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez
pointed to the spot.
The Brazilian took the penalty but missed the target.
Torres went on to give Atletico a second in the last minute
of injury-time with a penalty kick.
He latched on to a long ball from midfield and was upended
by Valdes.
The Spanish international took the penalty and found the
top corner. |