On The Continent: Ronaldinho Cuts The Gap

RONALDINHO REOPENS SPANISH TITLE RACE
After dropping to eight points behind Real Madrid last weekend with a frustrating draw against Sevilla, Barcelona looked like they could be headed for a repeat of that this week at Real Zaragoza until Ronaldinho stepped up and converted an 83rd minute penalty. It was all the more important for Barca because they knew by that stage that league leaders Madrid had slipped up and lost at Real Betis, giving them the chance to close the gap on them.

Madrid had taken the lead after just six minutes at Betis through Royston Drenthe, but two goals in four first half minutes from Edu and Mark Gonzalez turned the game on its head. Despite throwing on Ruud van Nistelrooy in the second half, the league leaders could not get an equaliser, falling to their second defeat of a topsy-turvy month. That gave Barca a lifeline in the title race and they almost blew it.

Thierry Henry opened the scoring after 34 minutes, but Ricardo Oliveira equalised eight minutes into the second half and it took until seven minutes from the end for Ronaldinho to come off the bench and score from the spot. Afterwards, Frank Rijkaard insisted that his team need to focus on their own results rather than hoping for more Madrid slip-ups: "It is true we have closed the distance, but we do not look at Madrid," he said. "The most important thing is that we win all our remaining games.

"The game was hard work and was very open throughout," admitted Rijkaard. "In the first half we controlled things quite well, including possession of the ball. In the second, though, we lost possession and our organisation too easily.