Barca, Real title race heads to final week

Soccer Betting Lines

05/08/2010 - Seville, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lionel Messi scored his La Liga-leading 32nd goal Saturday, and Barcelona held off Sevilla 3-2 to maintain a one-point lead over Real Madrid atop the standings entering the final week of the season.

Bojan Krkic and Pedro also scored for Barca, which built a three-goal lead at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan and held on against 10-man Sevilla. Frederic Kanoute and Luis Fabiano scored two minutes apart in the second for Sevilla.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his sixth goal in his last three games, leading Real Madrid to a 5-1 win over 10-man Athletic Bilbao at the Bernabeu.

Barcelona took control of the match inside five minutes, when Messi finished a pass from Maxwell for the opener. Messi played Maxwell's short chip pass down off his chest, made a touch with his left foot and fired into the bottom right from 16 yards.

Barca doubled the lead before the half-hour mark, as Xavi put Krkic through on a first-time pass, and Krkic held off Sevilla's Abdoulay Konko to slot back to the far post in the 28th.

Konko was sent off in the 56th after receiving his second yellow, and Messi set up Pedro's goal in the 62nd when his shot was blocked at the top of the box. The rebound rolled to Pedro, who scored from the top of the area.

Fabiano set up Kanoute's goal in the 69th, and scored his own in the 71st, but short-handed Sevilla couldn't finish the comeback. Sevilla heads into the last week of the season in a battle with Mallorca for fourth and a Champions League berth. Sevilla is currently fourth, one points ahead of Mallorca.

In Madrid, Ronaldo converted a penalty kick in the 22nd after a red card to Bilbao's Fernando Amorebieta, but Real failed to hold the edge until halftime.

Francisco Yeste found the bottom left in the 41st from the top of the box, and Athletic pulled level to leave Real's title hopes in jeopardy.

Bilbao kept the match level at 1-1 for nearly 30 minutes, but Gonzalo Higuain scored in the 73rd minute for his team-high 27th goal, and Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema and Marcelo added goals in the final 15 minutes.

Riki scored in the 68th as Deportivo edged Mallorca 1-0. Mallorca remained one point behind Sevilla, as the teams battle for either a Champions League place or a Europa League berth in the final week.

Giuseppe Rossi and Joseba Llorente scored as Villarreal topped Valencia 2-0 to enter the final week in position to earn a Europa League berth. Villarreal is level on points with Getafe for sixth place.

Roberto Soldado and Pedro Leon scored as Getafe topped Malaga 2-1 to maintain pace with Villarreal.

Malaga enters the final weekend as one of five teams still fighting to avoid relegation. Malaga is level on points with Racing, Valladolid and Tenerife. Xerez is three points behind the group in last, with all five teams still in danger.

Also Saturday, Xerez edged Real Zaragoza 3-2, Gijon tied Atletico Madrid 1-1, Espanyol defeated Osasuna 2-1, Valladolid edged Racing 2-1, and Tenerife tied Almeria 2-2.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.