DEFEAT DECONSTRUCTED

LA LIGA Real Madrid go three points clear at top after their win over Elche

MADRID: Real Madrid stormed three points clear at the top of La Liga after they beat Elche 3-0 on Saturday and Barcelona slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Real Sociedad.

Asier Illarramendi gave Real the lead before the break but it took them until the 72nd minute to score again with a rocket of a long-range drive by Gareth Bale. Isco added a third goal with nine minutes left.

Barca were cut open again and again on the counter-attack by a Sociedad side intent on avenging their recent King’s Cup exit at the hands of the Catalans.

Fifth-placed Sociedad went ahead through an Alex Song own goal before Lionel Messi equalised. Antoine Griezmann and David Zurutuza then struck after the break to send Barca to defeat.

It could have been worse for the champions as Carlos Vela hit the woodwork late on.

“We didn’t feel comfortable and hold possession which is our strength. This meant that they had openings,” Barca defender Gerard Pique told reporters.

“Now we have a break for a ON SUNDAY Rayo Vallecano 0

ON SATURDAY Real Sociedad 3 Song 32og Griezmann 54 Zurutuza 59

Real Madrid 3 Elche 0 Illarramendi 34, Bale 72, Isco 81

Celta Vigo 1 Rafinha 59

Almeria 0

Getafe 1 Lafita 20

Malaga 0

Team P W D L GD Pts Real Madrid 25 20 3 2 47 63 Barcelona 25 19 3 3 50 60 Atletico 24 19 3 2 43 60 Athletic 24 13 5 6 13 44 Sociedad 25 12 7 6 11 43

week and we can consider what went wrong. We are only three points behind so it isn’t worrying.”

Barca, who also had coach Gerardo Martino dismissed at halftime for complaining to the referee, have 60 points from 25 matches. Barcelona have not lost an away game in La Liga by more than one goal since May 7, 2008, when they lost 1-4 to Real Madrid. The last team to score three goals in a home fixture against Barca was Bayern Munich, 0-4 in last year’s Champions

League. In the league, it was

Real

Sociedad when they won 3-2 last season. The Anoeta Stadium in San Sebastian is proving difficult to conquer for Barca as they have failed to win in their last five games (three draws and two defeats). The famed Barcelona midfield was not at its effervescent best against Real Sociedad. Though they enjoyed the lion’s share of possession as they usually do, the midfielders were little tardy in falling back to defend as Sociedad cut open Barca again and again on the counter-attack. Coach Gerardo Martino went ahead with three forwards and as many midfielders against a team intent on defending deep and scoring on counter attack. One man short, the midfield engine that drives Barca ahead could not help the team to victory. The most active Barca player in San Sebastian was Adriano, with 82 passes. He was followed by Iniesta (80), Montoya (65) and Neymar (60) – all were not their usual self.

Victor Valdes, who has been solid under the bar for Barcelona for many years, conceded three goals in a match for the second time this season after the 2-3 home defeat to Sociedad at Nou Camp. The players who recovered the most balls were centre backs Piqué (13) and Bartra (11).

Lionel Messi continued his good form as he scored a goal. He has scored in Barca’s last five matches.

“SOCIEDAD PLAYED WELL AND I MISREAD THE GAME. We wanted to rotate the players so that everyone feels important. But it’s clear that rotations are only a good thing if they come off. We delayed the changes because we thought Leo’s goal would put us back in the game and that we could wait before rethinking our tactics. Probably, the decision not to change things around was mistaken as well.”

Gerardo Martino, Barcelona coach NICE, FRANCE: England manager Roy Hodgson was looking forward to coming up against his old side Switzerland after the draw for the Euro 2016 qualifiers paired the nations together on Sunday.

The English were drawn in Group E along with the Swiss, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania and the familiar old foes of San Marino in the draw in Nice.

With the expanded 2016 European Championship set to feature 24 nations for the first time, the top two countries will qualify from each section, as well as the best third-placed side.

That means the prospect

GROUP B Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belgium, Israel, Wales, Cyprus, Andorra

GROUP C

Spain, Ukraine, Slovakia, Belarus, Macedonia, Luxembourg

GROUP E

England, Switzerland, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, San Marino

GROUP F

Greece, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Northern Ireland, Faroe Islands

of England or any of the continent’s other leading nations failing to make it to France seem slim to say the least.

GROUP H

Italy, Croatia, Norway Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Malta

GROUP I

Portugal, Denmark Serbia, Armenia, Albania

Elsewhere, reigning world champions and two-time defending European champions Spain also got a kind draw in Group C.