Messi, Ronaldo genius secures wins for Barca, Real

Sharp thinking and brilliant execution by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo lifted Barcelona and Real Madrid to wins at Atletico Madrid and Rayo Vallecano respectively on Sunday that mantained Real’s 10-point lead over their great rivals at the top of La Liga. Messi caught the Atletico defence napping to score with a breathtaking 81st-minute free kick and secure a 2-1 success for Barca, while an audacious Ronaldo backheel gave Real a 1-0 victory against Madrid neighbours Rayo. It was a 28th league goal of the campaign for Messi, who succeeded Ronaldo as World Player of the Year and has won the award three times on the trot, leaving him one behind the former Manchester United forward at the top of the La Liga scoring chart. With 24 of 38 matches played, Jose Mourinho’s Real have 64 points, with Pep Guardiola’s Barca on 54 in second and Valencia, who lost 2-1 at home to Sevilla on Sunday, 14 points further back in third. Levante, the lowly Valencia-based club who are this season’s surprise package, climbed to fourth on 35 points thanks to their 2-1 win at Espanyol on Saturday, although only eight points separate them from Villarreal in 17th. Messi’s genius settled an intense battle at the Calderon after Atletico’s Radamel Falcao had cancelled out Daniel Alves’s opening goal. As the home defence lined up to defend a free kick wide on the left, Messi noticed Atletico goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois out of position and curled a stunning strike over the Belgian’s head into the far top corner. The goal gave Barca only their fifth win in 12 games on the road, a poor run of away form that has effectively scuppered their bid for a fourth straight title and put Real within touching distance of a first La Liga title since 2008.

Liverpool beat Cardiff 3-2 to win league cup

Liverpool beat Cardiff City 3-2 on penalties to win the English League Cup for the eighth time in a thrilling game which ended 2-2 after extra time at Wembley. Cardiff s Anthony Gerrard, cousin of Liverpool s Steven, fired the final spot kick wide as the Championship (second division) side s hopes of becoming the first Welsh club to win the trophy ended in heartache. Dirk Kuyt, Stewart Downing and Glen Johnson converted their spot kicks for Liverpool, while Cardiff missed three of theirs. Substitute Kuyt appeared to have sealed victory for Liverpool when he put his side 2-1 ahead at the start of the second half of extra time after a nailbiting final had ended 1-1 after 90 minutes. The Dutchman then turned saviour as he headed a Cardiff effort off the line, but from the resulting corner Ben Turner prodded in a dramatic equaliser to take the game to penalties. Cardiff, the first Welsh side to reach the League Cup final in the competition s 52-year existence, stunned Liverpool when they took the lead after 19 minutes through Joe Mason s smartly taken shot and Kenny Miller almost snatched victory near the end of full time after defender Martin Skrtel had equalised for Liverpool on the hour.

Melzer defeats Raonic in Memphis Championships

Jurgen Melzer defeated Milos Raonic in straight sets Sunday (February 26) afternoon to win the ATP Memphis Championships. Austrian Melzer battled to a 75 76(4) win over Canadian fourth seed Raonic to claim his fourth career title and first since Vienna in 2010. The unseeded Melzer took a difficult path to the title, defeating top seed John Isner in a quarterfinal match and then third seed Radek Stepanek in the semifinal. For Raonic the loss was his second in a row in the Memphis final after falling last year to Andy Roddick. Raonic had been in excellent form lately, winning 19 straight sets and losing his serve just once in his last 41 games before meeting Melzer.