La Liga

Ronaldo sees red in tight win

Newly-promoted team Cordoba ran Real Madrid ragged, but a late Gareth Bale penalty secured a tight 2-1 win for the leaders.

The European champions conceded the lead when Algerian Nabil Ghilas scored from the penalty spot in the second minute.

Cordoba troubled Madrid throughout the first-half, but Karim Benzema restored parity against the run of play on 27 minutes.

Ballon D’or winner Cristiano Ronaldo received his marching orders for kicking out at Cordoba defender Edimar, but this did not stop Real Madrid from eking out the win through Bale’s penalty two minutes from time.

Barcelona dismissed Elche 6-0 to keep pace with their Madrid based rivals.

The first came from an unlikely source in Gerard Pique, who cooly controlled with his chest and fired a volley past goalkeeper Tyton.

Lionel Messi then had a hand in the next four goals; he converted a penalty for a 2-0 lead before setting up two goals from Neymar and scored a second of his own late on, while Pedro netted the sixth in added time.

Atheltic Bilbao 1 – Malaga 1

Atletico Madrid 3 – Rayo Vallecano 1

Valencia 3 – Sevilla 1

Serie A

Pogba forces tense Juve win

Juventus continues to churn out victories and another came at the Juventus Stadium on Sunday as the Bianconeri defeated Chievo Verona 2-0.

The visitors held their own against the Serie A champions, keeping the game scoreless into the second-half, while creating some chances for themselves.

After laying siege to Chievo’s goal, Paul Pogba finally broke the deadlock on 60 minutes with another long range goal.

Then on 73 minutes his firmly struck shot then rebounded to Stephan Lichtsteiner, who made the points safe.

AS Roma dropped points once again in their pursuit of the Serie A title as Fiorentina held them 1-1 in Florence.

This result enables Juventus to stretch their lead to a more comfortable seven points.

Mario Gomez redirected David Pizarro’s wayward shot into goal on 18 minutes to give the home team the lead, but livewire forward Adem Ljalic equalised, with help from Juan Iturbe, on 49 minutes.

Lazio 3 – AC Milan 1

Inter 0 – Torino 1

Sampdoria 1 – Palermo 1

Big guns crash out of FA Cup

The English Premier League takes a break this week and the fourth round of the English FA Cup takes centre stage.

English football’s top three clubs — Chelsea, Manchester City and Southampton — were ousted by minnows Bradford City, Middlesbrough and Premier League outfit Crystal Palace respectively.

The FA Cup’s joint most successful club Manchester United also struggled to a 0-0 draw at Cambridge United on Friday, while Liverpool also drew blank at home to Bolton Wanderers.