The Korea Herald

지나쌤

Barca needs late goal in victory

By Korea Herald

Published : Dec. 1, 2014 - 20:17

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BARCELONA (AP) ― Barcelona needed a stoppage-time goal by Sergio Busquets to secure a 1-0 win at Valencia on a day Spanish football was rocked by the death of a fan after a violent clash between rival supporters.

A 43-year-old fan of Deportivo La Coruna died of injuries sustained Sunday in a street fight that broke out between Deportivo and Atletico Madrid supporters hours before their match in Madrid.

Elsewhere in Europe, the defending champions in England and Italy both earned victories.

Manchester City moved into second place in England with a win over Southhampton, while Andrea Pirlo also netted an injury-time winner for Juventus.

Barcelona remained two points behind leader Real Madrid after Busquets blasted in a rebound in the final seconds of injury time at Mestalla Stadium.

Lionel Messi started Barcelona’s game-clinching move with a lobbed pass that Neymar headed powerfully at goalkeeper Diego Alves, who did well to turn back the ball only for Busquets to drill it right back past him.

Messi appeared to be hit in the head by a water bottle thrown from the stands while his teammates piled on top of one another to celebrate the winning goal. The Argentine rubbed his head following the incident but was unhurt.

Third-place Atletico prevailed 2-0 over Deportivo in a game that finished shortly before Madrid’s Clinico San Carlos hospital announced that a man had died of injuries sustained after a fight erupted between rival groups early Sunday morning near its Vicente Calderon stadium.

The man was identified only as a 43-year-old Deportivo fan.

Sevilla moved ahead of Valencia into fourth place after routing visitor Granada 5-1.

City dislodged Southampton from second place with a 3-0 victory at the south-coast club in the Premier League, while Tottenham produced another comeback to beat Everton 2-1.

City was frustrated in the first half at St. Mary’s, but Yaya Toure, Frank Lampard and Gael Clichy eventually all found the net. The last two goals came with City down to 10 men following Eliaquim Mangala’s 74th-minute dismissal.

Tottenham is just two points from the Champions League places after beating Everton. Goals from Roberto Soldado and Christian Eriksen saw Tottenham come from behind to win 2-1 for the third time in four league games.

Pirlo scored deep into stoppage time as 10-man Juventus snatched a 2-1 win over Torino in a derby match.

Roma also kept pace with the league leader with a 4-2 win over Inter Milan.

Bruno Peres’ goal had looked set to end the Bianconeri’s 24-match winning streak at Juventus Stadium in Turin, after he ran almost the entire length of the pitch before leveling with a delightful finish to cancel out Arturo Vidal’s penalty.

Gervinho, Jose Holebas and Miralem Pjanic (two) scored for Roma, which was twice pegged back with goals from Andrea Ranocchia and former striker Pablo Osvaldo.