THE DATE WITH Barcelona at the Nou Camp has been brought forward by a day, to April 21, and Jose Mourinho may not complain for once.
With Real Madrid dropping more points in La Liga, Mourinho could be forgiven for wanting shot of Pep Guardiola’s men for another season.
Real were denied by the goalkeeping heroics of Vicente Guaita as they drew 0-0 with Valencia. Cristiano Ronaldo struck the post but Iker Casilla was a mere spectator as Tino and Ricardo Costas hit the woodwork for the visitors.
Madrid, having once held a 10-point lead at the top of the La Liga standings, are now four points ahead with an away-day against Lionel Messi and his teammates in less than two weeks.
Keeping his own counsel
Not for the first time this season, Mourinho chose to avoid the post-match press conference, preferring to send out assistant coach Aitor Karanka.
Karanka paid tribute to the display of Guaita in the Valencia goal. He said:
Everyone saw what happened and we cannot do anything about that. The players have given everything, making chances right until the 95th minute. We are still four points ahead and we are looking forward to our next game.
Lionel Messi recorded league goal’s 37 and 38 in the 4-1 win over Real Zaragoza. The match also featured a stunning 32 pass move that ended in a Pedro goal in injury time.
Milan slip up
Over in Italy, AC Milan’s poor week was compounded when Fiorentina snatched a last minute winner through Amauri. Milan, who were defeated by Barcelona in the Champions League during the week, have now ceded top spot to Juventus.
The Bianconeri won 2-0 against Palermo thanks to goals from Leonardo Bonucci and Fabio Quagliarella.
Borussia Dortmund maintained their three-point Bundesliga advantage over Bayern Munich thanks to a double from Polish striker Robert Lewandowski in their 3-1 victory away to Wolfsburg. Mario Gomez scored league goals number 24 and 25 in Bayern’s 2-1 win over Augsburg.
Montpellier and Paris Saint Germain both won to remain locked together atop the French Ligue 1, while PSV Eindhoven captured the Dutch Cup over the weekend.
