Spanish giants fire warning shots

THERE were ominous signs for Britain’s Champions League contenders after a hectic weekend of football across the continent.

Real Madrid, Barcelona, Benfica and Villarreal who face Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Rangers respectively all enjoyed domestic victories ahead of their midweek clashes.

Barca got off to a perfect start on Saturday against Deportivo La Coruna when World Player of the Year Ronaldinho sent an unstoppable free kick over the wall in the third minute. Depor equalised when Juanma powered home a header on 15 minutes.

The home defence was found wanting again when Portuguese defender Jorge Andrade stole a march on them to squeeze a header inside the post after Pedro Munitise clipped a free kick into the area just before the half-hour mark.

Henrik Larsson began the Barca fightback when he threw himself at a Ronaldinho corner to make it 2-2 with a great diving header after 34 minutes. Samuel Eto’o clinched the win with his 19th goal this season when he prodded the ball over the line 16 minutes into the second half.

New Real president Fernando Martin’s hard-line declarations after taking over from Perez seemed to have an immediate effect as the players flew out of the blocks at the Bernabeu and took the lead with a little over four minutes on the clock. Italian striker Antonio Cassano, starting a league match for the first time since joining Real in January, headed home unopposed at the far post after Roberto Carlos charged down the left wing and whipped a perfect cross into the area.

But just as Real looked to be taking control, city rivals Atletico hit back with a clever finish from Mateja Kezman who back-heeled a Peter Luccin drive into the net after a corner just before the half hour.

Kezman then had a great chance to put Atletico ahead but lashed the ball over the bar with the goal at his mercy. Moments later Real restored their lead after a marvellously worked counter-attack five minutes before half-time.

Zinedine Zidane found David Beckham on the right and the England captain rode one challenge before whipping the ball towards the near post where Baptista poked home.

Earlier, Argentine playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme gave an inspired performance, including two goals, to lead Villarreal to a 3-2 comeback win at home to struggling Alaves that set them up nicely for next week’s Champions League match against Rangers. In last night’s late game, bottom club Malaga and third-placed Valencia played out a 0-0 draw.

In Italy, a half-time dressing-down from coach Fabio Capello helped Juventus to a 1-0 victory at Sampdoria, which maintained their 10-point lead at the top of Serie A with 10 games left. Second-placed AC Milan had put some pressure on Juve by thrashing Empoli in the day’s early match and closing the gap between them and the reigning champions to seven points.

But Juve, who host Milan in Turin a week on Sunday, responded to the challenge, breaching Sampdoria’s defence in the 68th minute after an uncomfortable first half in Genoa.

Adrian Mutu delivered a free-kick from the right to the back post and Pavel Nedved took advantage of some slack marking to head past Francesco Antonioli from two yards out. Juve then dug in to claim their 23rd win in 28 games, keeping them firmly on course to retain the Scudetto.

Juve were missing injured strikers Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Trezeguet, but both are expected to be fit in time for the second leg of their last 16 Champions League tie against Werder Bremen tomorrow. The Germans lead 3-2.

In-form striker Filippo Inzaghi scored twice as Milan netted three goals in the last 13 minutes to defeat relegation-threatened Empoli 3-0 at the San Siro. Substitute Andriy Shevchenko was also on target.

In last night’s late game, Inter Milan needed a 90th minute equaliser to finish level with Roma.

Champions Benfica moved into third place in the Portuguese Premier League on Saturday after a goal three minutes into stoppage time from Italian substitute Fabrizio Micolli gave them a 2-1 win over Estrela Amadora.

A freekick by defender Paulo Machado put Estrela Amadora in front after 31 minutes before Benfica levelled through Laurent Robert early in the second half. Italian winger Miccoli, returning to action after a seven-week injury layoff, grabbed the winner in injury time with a deflected shot from outside the box.

A first Bundesliga goal from Dutch international Nigel de Jong handed Bayern Munich their first-ever defeat at the Allianz Arena as SV Hamburg secured a late 2-1 win on Saturday.

Bayern had won all 11 league matches at their new home this season, but Hamburg became the first team to end that streak, in the process closing the gap on the league leaders to eight points.

Werder Bremen are also eight points behind, but stay just above Hamburg in second after missing the chance to make up ground following a 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen.