Barcelona has almost ended Real Madrid’s defense of its Spanish league title, and there’s still half a season to go.
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez left Madrid staring at a 14-point deficit after leading Barcelona to a 3-0 win at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.
“It is a loss that hurts,” Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said. “It is a very, very difficult match for us. But this is not over. It might look like it, but we can never give up.”
Barcelona increased its lead to nine points over second-place Atletico Madrid, which lost at Espanyol on Friday. Valencia’s 1-0 loss to Villarreal at home on Saturday left it 11 points back.
Suarez struck in the 54th minute and Messi added a penalty 10 minutes later after Madrid’s Dani Carvajal received a direct red for stopping a goal-bound header by Paulinho.
Messi also set up substitute Aleix Vidal in stoppage time to round off the commanding win.
Despite the standings, Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde and his players aren’t excluding a Madrid comeback.
“We took another step forward in the league but I don’t rule out Madrid,” Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta said. “This is a long-distance race.”
England: Holding a 2-1 lead at Leicester thanks to Juan Mata’s double, Manchester United was left stunned as Harry Maguire latched onto Marc Albrighton’s cross and stabbed the ball into the net in the fourth minute of stoppage time to pull out a 2-2 draw.
It result was costly for second-place United, as Premier League leader Manchester City surged to a 17th successive victory with Sergio Aguero scoring twice in a 4-0 victory over Bournemouth.
Chelsea’s title defense faltered again in a 0-0 draw at resurgent Everton. The third-place champion fell 16 points behind Manchester City and three points behind Manchester United.
Also, Harry Kane’s hat trick secured a 3-0 win for Tottenham at Burnley and a rise into fifth place.
Italy: Marek Hamsik scored what proved to be the winner in the 39th minute of Serie A Napoli’s 3-2 victory over Sampdoria to surpass Argentina great Diego Maradona as Napoli’s all-time leading scorer with 116 goals. It has taken Hamsik 11 seasons and 478 appearances to reach the record.
Elsewhere, Medhi Benatia scored against his old club to help Juventus beat title rival Roma 1-0 and move within a point Napoli.