Ronaldinho produced another dazzling piece of skill to give Barcelona a 2-1 comeback win at home to Sevilla on Sunday as they notched up an 11th consecutive victory in all competitions to equal their club record.
The Brazilian, presented with the Ballon d'Or trophy for the European Footballer of the Year by his mother Miguelina before the match, sped past three defenders to fire the winner just 12 minutes from the end of an absorbing encounter at the Nou Camp.
The victory sent the Spanish champions back to the top of the standings, level on points with high-flying Osasuna who extended their perfect home record to eight wins when they earlier beat struggling Real Mallorca 1-0 at El Sadar.
Real Madrid moved up to third after a 2-0 victory at Malaga to give new coach Juan Ramon Lopez Caro a winning start in the league.
Defender Sergio Ramos, playing in midfield for the suspended David Beckham, headed in the first goal from a corner and Brazilian forward Robinho added a second four minutes later with a fierce strike after a twinkling run down the right.
Barca lead the table, level on 34 points from 15 games with Osasuna who are six ahead of a Real team they will meet next week at the Bernabeu.
Villarreal, Deportivo Coruna, Valencia and Celta Vigo are all tucked in close behind a further two points back in the standings.
Villarreal won 3-1 at Real Sociedad on Saturday while Valencia were held 1-1 by struggling Athletic Bilbao. Striker Diego Tristan earned Depor a 1-0 win at home to Cadiz and Celta slipped to a 1-0 defeat away to Real Zaragoza.
Javier Aguirre's
The Navarrans dominated throughout and regularly threatened with their slickly worked counter-attacks, but despite a host of clear scoring chances they were unable to extend their lead.
BEST DEFENCE
Sevilla, who have the best defensive record in the league, were in determined mood and never gave any ground as they hounded Barca off the ball and pressured them in every area of the Nou Camp.
Missing Deco, Xavi, Rafael Marquez, Mark van Bommel and Thiago Motta, Barcelona lacked their usual imagination in midfield and struggled to break down the streetwise Sevilla defence as scoring chances were few and far between.
But Sevilla centre-forward Frederic Kanoute stunned the home crowd when he poked home from close range in the 63rd minute after former Barca striker Javier Saviola had struck the post.
It took just two minutes for Barca to get back on level terms, leading striker Samuel Eto'o chalking up his 13th goal of the season when he headed in at the second attempt after a Ronaldinho corner.
The match remained delicately balanced until Ronaldinho exchanged a blistering one-two with substitute Henrik Larsson, scorched his way through the Sevilla defence and steered a perfectly placed shot past keeper Andres Palop.
The Catalans matched their 50-year-old record of 11 consecutive wins set in the 1955/56 season but it was not enough to shake off the attentions of surprise package Osasuna.
© 2024 Rediff.com -