Soccer: Real Madrid extend perfect home record
Ronaldo put Real ahead in the final minute of the first half but Deportivo hit back in the 63rd minute when Walter Pandiani scored within 15 seconds of coming on as a substitute.
Real, needing to win to stay clear of Valencia at the top, got the winner five minutes from time when Raul turned in a cross from Roberto Carlos.
The result gave Real 36 points from 16 matches and kept them two points ahead of Valencia, who had briefly gone top after winning 1-0 away to Real Betis.
Barcelona won their first game in five outings, beating local rivals Espanyol 3-1 in incident-filled derby on Saturday. Six players got their marching orders as a number of old scores were settled.
Espanyol took the lead after just seven minutes when Jordi Cruyff headed home. Barely a minute had elapsed before Ronaldinho equalised.
Barcelona then went on to lay claim to all three points thanks to two goals from Patrick Kluivert.
“The referee was, how can I say, a little pedantic. Perhaps he was right but the game wasn’t such a bloodbath to deserve six sendings off,” said Barca boss Frank Rijkaard.
De La Pena was the first to be shown a red card, for a wayward tackle on former team-mate Michael Reiziger. Barcelona were soon down to nine men after Rafael Marquez and then Ricardo Quaresma picked up their second yellow cards after the restart.
Soldevilla departed just after the hour and Barca’s Philip Cocu was then given a direct red card for dragging down Raul Tamudo.
The exodus finally came to a conclusion two minutes from the whistle, and meant both sides ended with eight men, when Espanyol’s Alberto Lopo was sent off.
Barcelona move up to seventh, one place behind Villarreal who beat Real Sociedad 2-0 on Saturday.
Atletico Madrid stay in fifth after a 2-2 draw at struggling Celta Vigo, salvaging a point late in the game thanks to a bizarre goal from Argentine defender Matias Lequi.
In Serie A, a penalty from Francessco Tottie after seven minutes helped Roma to a 1-0 victory over Modena last night at the Olimpico Stadium and extend their at the top of the table.
Earlier a Fabrizio Miccoli double sent Juventus on their way to a 4-0 thrashing of Parma to stay in touch with the Roman club.
The 7-0 midweek thrashing of Olympiakos in the Champions League, however, boosted poor morale in Ruin and coach Marcello Lippi kept his promise of using only in-form players, omitting striker Alessandro Del Piero in favour of Marco Di Vaio and Fabrizio Miccoli.
The decision paid off after just 10 minutes when Miccoli steered Pavel Nedved’s cross past Parma keeper Sebastien Frey. The ex-Perugia striker doubled Juve’s advantage in the 31st minute, firing home from the edge of the area.
Parma looked toothless in the second half and Del Piero took only two minutes to find the net after coming on in the 68th minute. He then set up Nedved for Juve’s fourth.
At Bologna’s Dall’Ara stadium Inter allowed the home side the lion’s share of possession before using the speed of 19-year-old striker Obafemi Martins to hit them on the break.
Martins put the visitors ahead in the 29th minute, racing on to a Kily Gonzalez cross to score.
Ten minutes later Alvaro Recoba made it 2-0, beating Bologna’s offside trap before dribbling round keeper Gianluca Pagliuca and stroking the ball into an empty net.
Lazio, meanwhile, appeared to be suffering a hangover from their midweek Champions League exit when they took on bottom-placed Ancona.
Roberto Mancini’s attack lacked precision and his defence survived a number of scares as strikers Marco Esposito and Milan Rapaic threatened to give the home side their first win of the season.
The match remained deadlocked until the 75th minute, when midfielder Fabio Liverani lifted a perfectly-weighted lob over Ancona keeper Alessio Scarpi.
Elsewhere, goals by midfielders Stefano Mauri and Luigi Di Biagio gave Brescia a 2-0 win over Empoli.
Champions Bayern Munich handed VfB Stuttgart their first Bundesliga defeat of the season on Saturday, beating them 1-0 courtesy of Dutch striker Roy Makaay.
Bayern rarely threatened at the Olympic stadium until Makaay exploited a blunder by the Stuttgart defence to hit the winner with an angled effort from just inside the box on 75 minutes.
Werder Bremen moved back to the top with a 3-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen in a tense clash.
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