He can do a lot of damage to the peloton. from miao1234's blog
BARCELONA, Spain -- Diego Costa sparked Atletico Madrids exhilarating 2-1 comeback at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday, while Lionel Messi converted a late penalty to keep Barcelona one point behind the Spanish league leaders with a contentious 1-0 win at Espanyol. Cameron Jordan Saints Jersey . Cristiano Ronaldo scored as well before Gareth Bale netted a brace as Real Madrid routed Rayo Vallecano 5-0 at home, breaking a rare two-game losing streak and keeping their team within three points of the pacesetters. A tireless Diego Costa cancelled out Iker Muniains opener before Koke "Jorge" Resurreccion followed with a 55th-minute header to keep Atletico on course in its search for its first league title since 1996. Messi made sure Barcelona stayed right behind Atletico with seven games left by slotting in a spot kick in the 77th when Espanyol defender Javi Lopez handled in the area. Ronaldo leads the league with 28 goals through 31 games. Diego Costa is next with 25, trailed by Messi with 23. Barcelona hosts Atletico on Tuesday in the Champions League quarterfinals, a preview of their meeting in the last round of the Spanish league season. Diego Costa was a nightmare for Bilbaos defence, and could have had at least one more goal given the number of opportunities he fought hard to create. He did help leave Bilbao with 10 men by earning a second yellow card for Aymeric Laporte in the 86th. "Diego Costa is huge for us," said Koke. "We have seen that from the start of the season and I only hope he keeps it up. We knew that we were visiting a tough ground and the game was like we expected. Diego (Costa) had space to roam and we found him. Then we turned it around." Muniain took advantage of a rare defensive lapse by Atletico to hit six minutes in when he chased down a pass touched on by Aritz Aduriz and used one touch to lob the ball over onrushing goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. Atleticos answer came in the 22nd when Koke intercepted Ander Iturraspes ill-advised pass and left Diego Costa alone to beat goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz. After Diego Costa almost struck again seconds after the restart, Koke played Filipe Luis wide and ran forward to nod his returned cross into the net to momentarily silence the raucous San Mames crowd. Diego Simeones side still needed Courtois one-handed stretch to swat away Adurizs header with 10 minutes to play. Simeone called his teams game the "best of the season." "We are aware of the great match we played," said Simone. "We went straight at recovering the ball and exploiting the space up front for Diego (Costa). We didnt waste time despite falling behind. We always knew how we wanted to play." Bilbao was left in fourth place and in control of the last Champions League spot with a six-point advantage over Sevilla after it lost 1-0 at Celta Vigo from Manuel "Nolito" Agudos 87th-minute penalty. Espanyols physical style kept Messi and the crosstown visitors in check until Lopez was whistled, allowing Messi to score the spot kick for his eighth goal in his last four games and save Barcelona from a costly draw. Barcelona was fortunate, however, that the referee did not see the ball hit Lopez after Dani Alves cross first ricocheted off Neymars arm, as television replays appeared to show. "Derbies are always tough, and this was a tense game with lots of interruptions, fouls and controversy," Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets said. "Three weeks ago we were in a difficult situation. Now we are in a privileged one and control our fate. I hope it stays like that until the last game against Atletico." Espanyol played the last seven minutes and injury time with 10 men after goalkeeper Kiko Casilla used his hands outside the box. Lopez had to take over goalkeeping duties with Espanyols three substitutes already made and played admirably, making two saves. Ronaldo and Bale were the main attractions in an otherwise dreary, rainy, and lopsided match at the Santiago Bernabeu. Ronaldo opened from Bales pass in the 15th before setting up Dani Carvajal in the 55th. Bale scored twice on the break in the 68th and 70th. Substitute Alvaro Morata curled in Madrids fifth in the 78th. Saints #31 Jersey . A stick in the gut prevented him from getting off a clean drive, but it earned him the first penalty shot of his career. He converted, and Patrice Bergeron also scored a short-handed goal on Thursday night as the Bruins opened the defence of their Eastern Conference championship with a 3-1 victory over the Lightning. Saints #90 Jersey . But in the aftermath a 115-91 pounding of the Utah Jazz on Saturday night, Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey insisted it was still invaluable for evaluating the depth of his team early in the season.GENEVA -- Tour de France champion Chris Froome wants an investigation into cyclings doping history to finally close an era dominated by Lance Armstrong. Almost 18 months after Armstrongs seven Tour wins were wiped from the record, an independent panel created by the new International Cycling Union leadership has begun work to discover the extent of the sports past problems. "I hope that anyone who does have anything to contribute would get involved." Froome told The Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday. The three-man Cycling Independent Reform Commission aims to investigate how doping happened from 1998-2013 and possible UCI complicity in helping Armstrong and his teams avoid scrutiny. "I am hoping that at the end of the day people will be able to say of it, Right, that was that era, we can now put that to bed and stop asking questions about it," Froome said. Armstrong and former UCI presidents Hein Verbruggen and Pat McQuaid will be invited for confidential, closed-door interviews with the panel which is based at Lausanne, Switzerland. None of the trio has committed publicly to meeting with the panel, which is chaired by Swiss politician and prosecutor Dick Marty. Froome said the panel could engage "not just necessarily those three, but anyone really who is part of that era and can contribute to resolving it." "Its going to be more negative publicity for the sport. Thats never good," Froome acknowledged. The Team Sky leader, who made a winning return to racing last month at the Tour of Oman, said he had not heard much tallk about the commission among current riders, who must help restore the sports credibility.Archie Manning Saints Jersey. "Theres a lot of really, really talented young riders coming through the system now that I believe in personally." Froome said. "These are going to be the guys carrying the torch going forward." Froome will be 29 when he is scheduled to start defending his Tour title on July 5 in northern England -- probably with 2012 winner Bradley Wiggins alongside him. "Im confident whoever is in there, we are going to have the strongest team possible," said Froome, whose frayed relationship with Wiggins was mended in the off-season. "He can do a lot of damage to the peloton. Hes one of the best climbers in the world and we know his time trialing ability." Froome expects to follow the path both he and Wiggins followed to Tour success, competing in -- and winning -- stage-race preparations at the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland and Criterium de Dauphine in France. "I think it would be crazy to really change things up too much," Froome said. "We found it has been a good system that has worked quite well for us." Speaking at the Geneva Motor Show, on the sidelines of a Team Sky sponsors event, Froome said extra work being a Tour champion was "a bit of a juggling act" with his training program. Still, the Oman victory suggests he got the balance right. "It just backs up that I have had a really good winter preparation," Froome said. "Im where I need to be for the season coming up." wholesale nfl jerseys ' ' '
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