Luis Suarez and Rafinha scored in the first half before three late goals in seven minutes including two from Neymar gave Barcelona a 5-0 win at 10-man Sporting Gijon on Saturday, their first game this season without Lionel Messi. ? After a slow and dull start by Barca, Arda Turan set up Suarez and the Uruguayan rounded Sporting goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar to tap in the opener in the 29th minute.
Barcelona will appeal against the red card shown to Gerard Pique in Saturday's La Liga match against Sporting Gijon, a club spokesman said on Monday.
Striker Raul set a club scoring record as Real Madrid swept aside Sporting Gijon 4-0 away on Sunday to cut Barcelona's lead at the top of the Primera Liga to 10 points.
Depleted Real Madrid ended a disappointing week with a 0-0 draw at Sporting Gijon on Saturday, handing champions Barcelona the chance to open a three-point lead at the top of La Liga.
Primera Liga top scorer Samuel Eto'o netted twice as Barcelona beat Sporting Gijon 3-1 at the Nou Camp on Sunday to restore their 12-point advantage at the top of the table.
Suarez moved ahead of Ronaldo as the league's top scorer on 34 goals after netting four times, twice with penalties, in the space of 25 second-half minutes
Valencia trailed 2-1 from the away leg and despite a late midweek kick off time supporters still flocked to the Mestalla stadium hoping to see their embattled team turn the tie around.
Lionel Messi became the first player to notch 300 La Liga goals as his double blast powered Barcelona to a 3-1 win at Sporting Gijon that sent them six points clear at the top of the table on Wednesday.
Barca overcome solid Bilbao challenge to scrape through 1-0.
Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale damaged a calf muscle in Sunday's La Liga game at home to Sporting Gijon, tests confirmed on Tuesday. Bale, who scored with a seventh-minute header to put Real 1-0 up at the Bernabeu, limped out shortly before halftime with his side leading 5-0. "After tests carried out today (Tuesday) on the player Gareth Bale at the Sanitas La Moraleja University Hospital, he has been diagnosed with a soleus muscle injury in his right leg," Real said on their website (www.realmadrid.com).
David Villa struck just after halftime to lift champions Barcelona to a laboured 1-0 home win over his former club Sporting Gijon in La Liga on Wednesday.
Real Madrid climbed back above arch rivals Barcelona to the top of La Liga when Gonzalo Higuain netted a late winner in a laboured 1-0 win at Sporting Gijon on Sunday.
A former midfielder for Sporting Gijon, Real Madrid and Barcelona, Luis Enrique won two Liga titles, one Champions League and three King's Cups as Barca coach between 2014 and 2017.
None of Europe's top five leagues have been able to hold matches with spectators since football has returned, although championships in countries such as Serbia, Bulgaria and Denmark have allowed fans back in to matches.
Atletico Madrid maintained a two-point lead in La Liga with a 3-0 victory at Las Palmas and Barcelona and Real Madrid stayed hard on their heels with thumping wins over Athletic Bilbao and Sporting Gijon on Sunday.
Barcelona moved ever closer towards a successful defence of their La Liga title after nearest challengers Atletico Madrid suffered a shock late collapse at struggling Sporting Gijon to lose 2-1 on Saturday.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup winner took to Twitter to express that he wants to win the Emperor's Cup with the Japanese side.
Cristiano Ronaldo continued his rich vein of form by scoring twice in Real Madrid's 2-1 home win over struggling Sporting Gijon on Saturday, although the La Liga leaders got a lucky break when the visitors squandered a second-half penalty.
The injury list in the La Liga keeps growing as the season progresses and this time Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale are the unfortunate victims...
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez are both back for domestic duties as second-placed Barcelona resume their chase of La Liga leader Real Madrid with a tricky trip to red-hot Real Sociedad on Sunday. Barcelona, into the Champions League last 16 as Group C winners with a 2-0 win at Celtic on Wednesday, are four points behind Real Madrid who will host Sporting Gijon on Saturday without the injured Gareth Bale. "We have achieved our aim, which was to qualify as first of our group and now we need to turn our focus to La Liga," Barcelona centre back Javier Mascherano told www.fcbarcelona.com.
Already-qualified France played out an uninspiring goalless draw with Denmark in their final World Cup Group C match at Moscow's Luzhniki stadium on Tuesday, which was enough to ensure that both teams advance to the knockout stage.
Barcelona thrashed Sporting Gijon 6-1 to go top of La Liga on a dramatic night in Spain on Wednesday as Luis Enrique announced he was stepping down as the Catalan club's coach at the end of the season.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane is happy with his squad and the club has not discussed possible reinforcements despite FIFA's decision to ban them from the next two transfer windows, he said on Saturday. FIFA announced on Thursday it had banned Real and neighbours Atletico Madrid from registering players for the next two windows for breaching rules on signing non-Spanish Under-18 players. Both clubs denied wrongdoing and said they would appeal. The list of players included at least one of Zidane's four sons, who play for various Real youth teams, although the club have not confirmed which of them were singled out by FIFA.
Gareth Bale will undergo ankle surgery next week to repair damaged tendons, Real Madrid said on Thursday. The Wales international picked up the injury during Tuesday's 2-1 Champions League victory at Sporting Lisbon. "Real Madrid Sanitas Medical Services have decided that Gareth Bale will undergo an operation following the traumatic dislocation of the peroneal tendons of his right ankle," La Liga leaders Real said in a statement.
Real Madrid tightened their grip on top spot by beating Alaves 3-0 at home in La Liga on Sunday to provisionally move five points ahead of nearest challengers Barcelona despite coach Zinedine Zidane making a string of changes in defence.
Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo gave a ringing endorsement of new coach Zinedine Zidane and handed a rebuke to his sacked predecessor Rafa Benitez after Sunday's 5-1 La Liga victory at home to Sporting Gijon. Real have comfortably won both their matches since Zidane took over this month, a 5-0 thrashing of Deportivo La Coruna and Sunday's demolition of lowly Gijon, and Ronaldo said the players had a better relationship with the former Real and France great, who is known as 'Zizou', than with the unpopular Benitez. The former Valencia, Liverpool, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Napoli manager was discarded after less than half a season in the job after an indifferent run of results left Real trailing city rivals Atletico Madrid and champions Barcelona in La Liga. "To be honest, with some coaches you have more empathy than with others," Ronaldo told reporters after netting a double at the Bernabeu. "The truth is, don't ask me why, that the players have more empathy with Zizou," the Portugal forward added.
World champions Spain were held by lowly Finland but there were wins for England, Germany, France and Netherlands as Europe's top teams returned to the task of qualifying for next year's World Cup finals on Friday.
With Andy Roddick retired, Mardy Fish unavailable and Spain apparently unbeatable at home on clay, the United States look distant second favourites when the two nations clash in the Davis Cup semi-final in Gijon starting on Friday.
Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas sustained a hamstring injury during training on Saturday and will be out of action for around three weeks, the European champions said.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi took their remarkable scoring achievements to new heights when they jointly set a record for La Liga goals in a season of 41 on Saturday.
Seydou Keita and Xavi struck in the last 11 minutes to earn 10-man Barcelona a nervy 3-1 home win over lowly Sporting Gijon that kept their La Liga title hopes alive on Saturday.
Lionel Messi has dismissed talk of chasing records after the Argentine struck twice in Wednesday's 5-0 Champions League win at BATE Borisov to equal Ladislau Kubala as Barcelona's second highest scorer of all time on 194 goals.
Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho and his Sporting Gijon counterpart Manuel Preciado have escaped punishment over a row they had in November after the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) decided no action was needed.
Lionel Messi's double strike helped Barcelona scrape a 3-2 victory over Real Sociedad on Saturday to keep the pressure on La Liga leaders Real Madrid, who needed a brace from Isco to beat Sporting Gijon by the same scoreline.
Injured Barcelona forward Lionel Messi is almost irreplaceable but the Spanish champions are determined to put his temporary absence behind them, coach Pep Guardiola said on Tuesday.
Villarreal and Espanyol clung to the coat-tails of the La Liga leaders on Sunday with home wins that owed much to their attractive style of attacking football.
Athletic Bilbao forward Urko Vera netted his first La Liga goal deep into added time to snatch a 2-2 draw for the Basque club at Getafe on Monday.
Spain striker Fernando Llorente scored in Athletic Bilbao's 2-1 La Liga victory over struggling Real Zaragoza on Sunday to continue his prolific recent run.
Real Madrid recovered from the second-minute dismissal of goalkeeper Iker Casillas to secure a battling 1-0 win at Espanyol on Sunday and cut Barcelona's lead at the top of La Liga to five points.
Factbox on Spain striker David Villa, who joined Barcelona from Valencia for 40 million euros on Wednesday.
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