Iniesta ready for Liverpool ‘war’
The club slumped to a 2-1 defeat against Sevilla on Saturday night — their fourth league defeat of the season, and Iniesta believes they need to put it behind them to reel in Liverpool, who they trail 2-1.
“We have to continue fighting,” he said. “On Tuesday we have another war.”
Barca looked to be in control against Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium after taking a 14th-minute lead through Ronaldinho and winning a penalty in the 27th minute, in an incident that also saw home defender Aitor Ocio sent off.
But Andres Palop saved Ronaldinho’s spot-kick, and 10-man Sevilla drew level just before the break through Alexander Kerzhakov.
Sevilla then stunned their opponents by going 2-1 when Daniel Alves rifled home a free-kick, before Barca were reduced to nine men with the dismissals of Ludovic Giuly and Gianluca Zambrotta.
Real Madrid’s indifferent home form continued last night as they were held to a draw by local rivals Getafe at the Bernabeu.
Getafe stunned their hosts by taking a 38th-minute lead through Daniel Guiza, but Madrid drew level just before half time through a Ruud van Nistelrooy penalty. David Beckham, who hit the crossbar in the first half, was taken off injured for Real.
Espanyol saw their five-match winning streak ended after a 1-1 draw with Villarreal yesterday.
Mallorca leapfrogged Levante with a 3-1 in a convincing basement-battle.
Real Betis put some daylight between themselves and the drop zone on Sunday with a priceless 1-0 away win at Deportivo La Coruna, courtesy of Fernando.
Exposito Juanjo’s late strike gave Racing Santander their fifth consecutive home win, against Osasuna.
Gimnastic beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 while Real Zaragoza edged bottom-club Real Sociedad 3-2.
In France, crowd trouble marred leaders Lyon’s 3-1 victory over St Etienne in a fractious Ligue 1 derby at the Stade Geoffrey-Guichard.
Les Gones had just extended their lead to 3-0, through a 47th-minute free-kick from Fred, when tear gas appeared to be thrown from one of the stands.
The referee halted the game but many players were affected by the fumes. Several were forced to cover their mouths with their jerseys as they jogged to the dressing rooms. The match was delayed for 20 minutes.
On the pitch, Lyon effectively had the game wrapped up by half-time. Kim Kallstrom set the champions on their way in the 28th minute, with Tiago’s deft chip nine minutes later doubling the advantage. Fred stepped up two minutes into the second half and curled a perfect free-kick into the top right corner from 20 yards out.
Bafetimbi Gomis stabbed home a consolation for the visitors.
Aruna Dindane’s penalty saw Lens claim a vital 1-0 away win at Marseille last night.
Lille climbed back into the Champions League positions after a convincing 4-0 win over Troyes. A brace each from Abdul Kader Keita and Stephane Dumont helped Claude Puel’s men end a run of four successive Ligue 1 defeats to move third behind Lens.
Inter Milan took another stride towards the Serie A title with a 2-1 victory at Livorno.
Although the league leaders fell behind to a Cristiano Lucarelli free-kick, goals from Julio Cruz and Zlatan Ibrahimovic stretched Inter’s cushion at the top of the table.
AC Milan kept the pressure on fourth-placed Lazio after coming from behind to beat Chievo 3-1 at the San Siro.
Lazio kept their Champions League hopes on track by securing a 1-0 home win over Sampdoria.
Cagliari ended a run of three straight defeats and picked up vital points in their battle to avoid relegation with a 2-0 victory over Atalanta while Catania drew 1-1 against Siena behind closed doors as Catania’s punishment continues following the violence which marred the Sicilian derby with Palermo.
Christian Wilhelmsson’s late leveller secured a point for an off-colour Roma side against bottom-of-the-table Ascoli on Saturday.
Luca Toni struck twice yesterday to inspire Fiorentina to a come-from-behind 5-1 victory against Torino.
Christian Rigano scored twice as struggling Messina boosted their survival hopes with a surprise 2-0 victory over 10-man Palermo last night.
In Germany Bayern Munich got themselves right back in the Bundesliga title race with a 3-2 victory at Hertha Berlin.
Hassan Salihamidzic put Ottmar Hitzfeld’s side ahead and goals from Lukas Podolski and Roy Makaay helped Bayern home.
Bundesliga leaders Schalke lost 2-0 to Hamburg on Friday and fourth-placed Bayern are just six behind them.
Stuttgart slipped to third after a surprise 3-1 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.
Werder Bremen beat Bochum 3-0, Arminia Bielefeld edged to a 3-2 win over Nurnberg, Eintracht Frankfurt defeated Hannover 2-0 and Wolfsburg won 1-0 against Borussia Monchengladbach. Energie Cottbus beat Borussia Dortmund 3-2 last night.
In Holland, Arsenal’s Champions League opponents PSV Eindhoven are six points clear at the top of the Eredivisie after easing past RKC Waalwijk 2-0.
Two goals in the opening 18 minutes from Jefferson Farfan and Eduardo Alcides gave the hosts the impetus against their relegation-threatened opponents.
Ajax went down 1-0 at home to Heerenveen but AZ kept the pressure on PSV with a 4-0 win away to Utrecht.
Feyenoord required a late equaliser from Pierre van Hooijdonk to salvage a point at home to Roda yesterday.
In Portugal Benfica maintained the pressure on leaders FC Porto after recording a narrow 1-0 victory at 10-man Aves on Saturday.
Porto, who face Chelsea this week in the Champions League, won 1-0 against Braga on Saturday courtesy of Vieira Adriano’s ninth-minute effort.
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