Bitter Spanish rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid clashed in Jose Mourinho’s first Clasico last night at Camp Nou, but it was Barca that came out on top in spectacular fasion as they drubbed Real 5 – 0.

Spanish World Cup winners Xavi and Pedro Rodriguez put Barcelona into a two-goal lead after just 17 minutes and David Villa marked his first Clasico with a brace inside two minutes (54 min, 56) before Jeffren added a late fifth as Mourinho stomached an unforgettable first defeat in charge of Real.

“It was an important win by a big margin and it puts us top two points above Real in the table which is what we wanted,” said Villa. “However, it is only November and there are lots of games left and we have to keep on winning.”

For Barcelona it was a fifth successive Clasico win over their arch rivals as coach Pep Guardiola maintained his 100 percent record in the fixture and exacted revenge over Mourinho, whose Inter Milan side defeated Barcelona in last season’s Champions League semifinals.

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Barcelona’s new striker David Villa scored the only goal of the match between Spain and Portugal last night to see the European Champions beat the Portuguese 1 – 0 at Cape Town Stadium.

Villa pounced in the 63rd minute of an absorbing encounter that saw plenty of chances and Portugal’s Ricardo Costa sent off, chipping a rebound over goalkeeper Eduardo after his first shot was saved.

It was enough to put Spain into a last eight showdown on Saturday against the South Americans, who crushed Japanese hopes in a dramatic 5-3 penalty shoot-out earlier in the day.

Whoever gets through that match has either Argentina or Germany awaiting them in the semi-finals.

In a stadium packed to the rafters with Spanish and Portuguese fans, Spain quickly signalled their intentions with Fernando Torres testing Eduardo with a shot from the edge of the box in the opening minute.

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Three days after winning the La Liga title Barcelona have snapped up Valencia striker David Villa for €40 million.

After a board meeting at Valencia in the morning, their president Manuel Llorente said they had accepted Barca’s offer for the striker who scored 21 league goals last season to finish his fifth consecutive campaign as the club’s top scorer.

“We have sold David Villa to Barcelona for 40 million euros,” he told a news conference at the Mestalla.

On the international stage, Villa is Spain’s second highest scorer with 36 goals from 55 matches, eight short of Raul’s record, and he will be spearheading Spain’s World Cup campaign in South Africa next month.

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Valencia striker David Villa has been talking with Barcelona about a move to the UEFA  Champions Leugue winners, Spanish media said on Thursday.

“I only want to go to Barca,” Villa told Barcelona’s technical director Txiqui Begiristain at a secret meeting, the Catalan sports paper Mundo Deportivo said.

He said “that there are only two alternatives: to agree on his transfer to Barca or he is ready to see out his contract with Valencia,” the daily Sport reported.

It said the 27-year-old has rejected interest from Chelsea and from Barca’s arch-rivals Real Madrid.

Barcelona, who have won a unique treble of league, Spanish cup and European Champions League trophies last season, are ready to offer Villa contract of four or five years, said Mundo Deportivo.

Source: supersport.co.za

Pic: koptalkinsider.wordpress.com