Barcelona apologise for late showing

James Orr
Monday 06 December 2010 01:00 GMT
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The Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has apologised for the 50-minute delay to the match at Real Osasuna on Saturday. Confusion surrounded the start of the game (won 3-0 by Rosell's side), with Barcelona originally announcing the game would be postponed for 24 hours because of the strike by air traffic controllers which grounded flights in Spain. But Osasuna said the Spanish Football Federation had not moved the fixture.

"I assume the responsibility for the events preceding Saturday's game," said Rosell. "I personally led the dealings with the Spanish federation." Barça then made a last-minute 195-mile trip by train and coach and arrived minutes before the scheduled 7pm kick-off. The ramshackle preparations didn't affect the side on the pitch however: a brace from Lionel Messi and a Pedro goal kept Barça two points ahead of Real Madrid in La Liga, with Jose Mourinho's side bouncing back from their heavy defeat at the Nou Camp on Monday with a 2-0 win against Valencia at the Bernabeu on Saturday, Cristiano Ronaldo scoring both goals.

Milan moved three points clear of Lazio at the top of Serie A after beating Brescia 3-0. The former Tottenham Hotspur and Portsmouth midfielder Kevin Prince-Boateng scored his first goal for the Rossoneri alongside strikes by Robinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Champions Internazionale now lie in sixth place after losing 3-1 away to Lazio on Friday, and are 10 points behind the leaders.

Lille defeated Lorient 6-3 to rise from fourth place to the summit of Ligue 1. Lille's Moussa Sow, 24, scored a hat-trick to establish him as the League's top scorer with 13 goals.

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