Puyol's header gives Barça 1-1 draw in first leg of Copa (Photo: AP Photo/Paul White)
Barcelona rallied from a goal down to ensure a 1-1 draw against Valencia in the first leg of
their semi final showdown in the Copa del Rey.
La Mestalla provided all of the hostility the Catalans could handle, as Valencia came
out of the gates in a surging frenzy, mounting unrelenting pressure in the opening minutes trying
to force a crack in Barcelona's defensive armor.
It was a depleted Barcelona side that turned up in Valencia tonight, but it was also a team that
does't give and they got a credible 1-1 draw in their Copa del Rey semi-final first-leg. Barca will
be heavy favorites now to finish this tie off at the Camp Now.
Barca were given an early scare when Roberto Soldado raced onto a through ball, but Pinto came
racing out of his goal to slide in and clear the danger, appearing to use his hand as he did so,
only for play to be waved on.
Liverpool have opened talks with FC Groningen over exciting striker David Texeira, as manager Kenny
Dalglish steps up his transfer activity in the closing stages of the window.
Dalglish had previously made buying a striker his top priority for January, with Luis Suarez
missing for eight matches through suspension, and Andy Carroll and Dirk Kuyt struggling to find
their feet this term.
Here we take a look at some of the players that have been linked with winter moves to
Liverpool.
1. Inigo Martinez – Real Sociedad
The Spanish youth international has scored two quite unbelievable goals from the halfway line this
season. The catch? Well, he's a centre-back!
2. Fernando – Porto
Much has been made of Liverpool losing their influential holding player Lucas Leiva to injury.
Ally McCoist has urged striker Nikica Jelavic to reject the chance of a move away from Rangers,
with Liverpool one of the reported suitors.
Speculation over the last fortnight has placed the Reds in the mix for the striker, who moved to
Ibrox Stadium for £4 million last August.
His form in the SPL has alerted a number of clubs south of the border, with The Daily Mail claiming
today that Reds boss Kenny Dalglish is one the interested parties in the 26-year-old.
Liverpool should sign Valencia striker Roberto Soldado to help solve their goalscoring crisis,
according to a pole conducted by GiveMeFootball.
The 26-year-old has scored 16 goals this season with Valencia lying seven points off the pace in La
Liga.
The Reds' need for a striker has swelled in recent weeks, with their inability to convert openings
holding them back in pursuit of qualification for the Champions League.
Roberto Soldado ... need we say more?! If there was a man Valencia needed to
serve up the best paellas to it'd be Senor Soldado himself. While the
focus has largely been on Real Madrid and Barcelona winning their World Club Cup trophy last
weekend, we've decided to devote La Liga Lunes to the Valencian striker who scored
twice against Malaga last night.
Rewind just 9 days and Chelsea were on the brink of heading out of the UEFA Champions League at
the group stages and being out of the running for qualification for next seasons UEFA Champions
League as a consequence of being miles away from the top four positions in the English Premier
League.
The bums they are a squeaking.
Frank Lampard and Fernando Torres are on the bench for the defining match of Andre Villas-Boas'
tenure at Chelsea thus far. Bold and correct decisions, will they pay off?
Architects
Team sheets
Chelsea
Cech, Ivanovic, Cole, Luiz, EBJT (c), Romeu, Ramires, Meireles, Mata, Drogba, Sturridge.
The bums they are a squeaking.
Frank Lampard and Fernando Torres are on the bench for the defining match of Andre Villas-Boas'
tenure at Chelsea thus far. Bold and correct decisions, will they pay off?
Architects
Team sheets
Chelsea
Cech, Ivanovic, Cole, Luiz, EBJT (c), Romeu, Ramires, Meireles, Mata, Drogba, Sturridge.
Tomorrow we will know the future of Chelsea FC in the UEFA Champions League and , probably,
the future of Portuguese manager Andres Villas Boas in the bench of the sout-west London club. The
"Blues" has the chance to qualify to the knock out of the most important tournament for European
clubs, as they will play at Stamford Bridge in front of their supporters, but an easy qualification
is not to be taken for granted.
Man City & Chelsea's Champions League hopes hang in the balance, as Ajax faces Real Madrid
juggernaut - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
The last round of the Champions League group stages sees a number of mouthwatering and do-or-die
ties. If you're going to be betting on football, you should be very careful where you put your
money.
With the top three all in action on Saturday, attention will switch to the fight for UEFA spots
and the struggle at the bottom on Sunday. Levant host Sporting, in-form Bilbao are at home to
Granada, the stuttering Seville are at Zaragoza and Espanyol are at the Cornella-El Prat Stadium
against Osasuna.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE continued tonight with two SPANISH FOOTBALL Clubs involved in Group duties &
with positive outcomes. Here is a short summary of events, the final results & the scorers. Roberto
Soldado VALENCIA CF needed to win its Group E match against GENK to keep alive its qualifying hopes
& they did things in smashing fashion.
Roberto Soldado grabbed three first-half goals to help Valencia thrash Genk 7-0 in a crucial
result that kept alive the Spaniards' hopes of qualification for the last 16 of the Champions
League.
Jonas Goncalves got an early opener before Soldado's solo show gave Valencia a 4-0 lead before
the interval.
Liverpool's director of football Damien Comolli has identified Valencia's in form striker Roberto
Soldado as a target he feels will give his Anfield side a much needed injection of fire-power.
The 26 year old former Real Madrid man has got his career back on track in the last three years
after stagnating at the Bernabeu and is now attracting the attention of many prospective suitors
and is fighting his way back to the fringes of the Spanish national team set-up.
Real Madrid remain three points clear at the top of La Liga after an impressive 3-2 win over
Valencia at Mestalla.
Karim Benzema's brilliant strike gave the league leaders the advantage at half-time and when
Sergio Ramos made it 2-0 most fans thought the match was over. But Valencia never rolled over and
two goals from Roberto Soldado made sure that Madrid had to fight until the final whistle to wrap
up all three points.
After the international break, La Liga resumes this weekend with a big match between league
leaders Real Madrid and third-place Valencia at the Estadio Mestalla.
Coming off guiding Portugal to Euro 2012, Cristiano Ronaldo will look to pick up where he left
off at league level, after smashing a hat-trick in Real's 7-1 belting of Osasuna on November 6.
January will soon be with us and while the striking situation at White Hart Lane doesn't seem
quite so desperate as it did last season, it still seems likely that Spurs will be entering into
the market at some stage for reinforcements.
Despite Pav's wonder strike against his compatriots from Rubin Kazan last week, he has had a
lacklustre start to the season and could well move on this winter.
The El Clasico teams of Barcelona and Real Madrid have continued their battle for superiority at
the top of the Spanish Primera Division this season, with both facing tricky fixtures over the next
three weeks.
Valencia v Real Madrid
Valencia finished third last season and on their day have the ability to take on the big two;
they host Madrid on Saturday 19th November at the Mestalla.
24.10.2011 - Un profundo estiletazo de
Ever Banega con definición de
Roberto
Soldado en el minuto 88 (1-1) impidió que el Athletic de Bilbao se llevase un triunfo de
Valencia.
Los vascos fueron superiores, dominaron gran parte del partido y vencÃan con gol de Iker Munian
(´71) pero el saldo no fue el mejor: al empate se le suma la lesión del capitán Carlos Gurpegui
(rotura del ligamento cruzado anterior para 7 meses de ausencia) y de Fernando Llorente
(tendinitis).
Links with new strikers continue and while Seydou Doumbia added a few million to his transfer
fee with a double strike for CSKA Moscow in the Champions League this week, Tottenham may need to
look elsewhere for cheaper option.
The Daily Mail seems to have broken the story that suggests Harry Redknapp will make a move for
Valencia's Roberto Soldado in January as he looks to bolster his strike force.
Just as Del Bosque refuses to make changes to his squad selection, Spain refuses to make changes
to the script of all its competitive matches since the World Cup: tidy, if uninspired, wins against
the Czech Republic and Scotland sealed a perfect qualifying round for the Euro 2012.
[caption id="attachment_1657" align="aligncenter" width="458" caption="Is it something about the
name 'David'?
As we head into the international break, here are the top scorers in La Liga after six
matches.
- 8: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
- 7: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
- 5: Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid) Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid) Roberto Soldado
(Valencia)
- 4: Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona) Miku (Getafe) Santi Cazorla (Malaga) Imanol Agirretxe (Real
Sociedad)
- 3: Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao) David Villa (Barcelona) Raul Garcia (Osasuna) Michu
(Rayo Vallecano) Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) Luis Garcia (Real Zaragoza) Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla)
Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal)
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has kept faith with Chelsea striker Fernando Torres for the Euro
2012 qualifying matches against Czech Republic and Scotland.
Torres did not make the matchday squad for Spain's previous match and his place was under threat
from inform Valencia striker Roberto Soldado, who has scored six goals this season.
A stunning late comeback from Malaga maintained their position at the top of the La Liga. The
Andalusian side were briefly knocked off the top by Valencia, but they defeated Getafe 3-2 to
reclaim pole position on Saturday.
Getafe led 2-1 in the 88th minute remaining courtesy of goals from Pedro Leon and substitute
Nicolas Fedor Miku, either side of Ruud van Nistelrooy's equaliser.
By Chris Wright
After an opening 20 minutes of mis-placed, error-strewn passing and bumbling first-touches that
resembled the scene from Space Jam where Charles Barkley, Mugsy Bogues et al have their 'talent'
removed, a very decent football match broke out at the Mestalla last night with Chelsea robbed of a
narrow win at the death thanks to Salomon Kalou's flappy hands.
By Chris Wright
After an opening 20 minutes of mis-placed, error-strewn passing and bumbling first-touches that
resembled the scene from Space Jam where Charles Barkley, Mugsy Bogues et al have their 'talent'
removed, a very decent football match broke out at the Mestalla last night with Chelsea robbed of a
narrow win at the death thanks to Salomon Kalou's flappy hands.
Positive results earned by two Londoners on their Champions League matches as Arsenal grabbed
their first win in the group stage after beating Olympiakos 2-1 at Emirates, while Chelsea got a
point from 1-1 draw against Valencia in Spain.
Two summer signings, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Andre Santos contributed the goals for the
Gunners, while at Mestalla, Frank Lampard's goal was canceled out with a late penalty because of
Salomon Kalou's handball.
Juan Mata's homecoming did not go as planned. He received a yellow card for his efforts right at
the end for some argy bargy with the referee. Chelsea were better for most part of the match and
really cranked it up in the second half but the heroics of goalkeeper Diego Alves kept them
out.
Barcelona and Arsenal picked up their first Champions League victories of the season while
Marseille made it two wins out of two after thrashing Dortmund.
Winners of the competition in three of the last six seasons, Barcelona were held to a 2-2 draw
by AC Milan on matchday one, but turned in a clinical performance to win 5-0 at BATE.
By JOHN BOSCHINI
Lionel Messi's case as the best Barcelona player of all time got a little bit stronger with a
brace in a 5-0 thrashing of BATE Borisov in Belarus in a UEFA Champions League group match.
The Argentinian captain moved into a tie for second place with Ladislau Kubala on Barcelona's
all-time goalscorer list with 194 goals scored for the club.
Super Frank Lampard sends a message to his critics. Salomon Kalou, well. No comment.
Redemption song?
If some weird time-traveler type had given me the option of collecting a point at the Mestalla
prior to this fixture taking place, I would have gladly taken it.
Frank Lampard responded brilliantly to his bitter critics by scoring a wonderfully placed shot
past Valencia goalkeeper Diego Alves to hand Chelsea 1-0 lead in their Group E match at La
Mestalla.
Ever since being substituted at half-time during the Blues' 3-1 defeat at Manchester United last
Sunday, Lampard has lost his guaranteed starting place to the likes of Ramires and Raul
Meireles.
Hey Juan, enjoy yourself.
Team news and the like from 2:30pm EDT.
Team sheets:
TBA
Streaming
My P2P
FirstRow Sports
Sport Lemon
On we go, with a visit from old friend Juan Mata and Chelsea, a club we have a recent history
with.
It's the Champions League! The goose bump-inducing song, the pomp and circumstance!
Today, I'm re-directing you to a post I wrote for our friends at Forza Futbol.
If you're not following them on Facebook and Twitter, what are you waiting for?
Our biggest test of the Champions League group stage arrives Wednesday in the form of a trip to
the Estadio Mestalla. Valencia not only bring forth a heavy test for the Chels, but they also
eagerly await the return of a departed son.
Homecoming
Matchday 1 was particularly special to Chelsea supporters for, aside from a win over Bayer
Leverkusen, the return of Michael Ballack to Stamford Bridge.
By Chris Wright
With Victor Valdes stranded beyond the front post and the Barcelona goal yawning in front of
him, Valencia's principle goal-scorer Roberto Soldado managed to pull this horrendous shank out of
the bag at the Mestalla last night...
Let it be known that Soldado would and should have been putting Valencia 3-1 up here,
instead Los Che went on to be pegged back at 2-2 thanks to a late-ish equaliser from Cesc
Fabregas.
The talk that the la liga had turned into a two horse race with Barcelona and Real Madrid being
the horses in question has not worked out that way so far.Barcelona only managed a draw against
Valencia.They came close to losing the match.Roberto Soldado did a Torres in front of an empty
goal. Fabregas scored his equaliser in the last 15 minutes of the game.
