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Barca maintain perfect home record

BARCELONA, Spain — Second-placed Barcelona kept up the pressure on Spanish leaders Real Madrid with a 3-0 win at home to Recreativo Huelva on Saturday.

Frank Rijkaard’s side clinched a seventh successive league victory at the Nou Camp, with all the goals coming in the second half.

Defender Gabriel Milito powered home a header to score the opener in the 64th minute from a corner, then substitute Bojan Krkic doubled the lead two minutes later.

The 17-year-old, who is being tipped for an international call-up by Spain, stylishly took Thierry Henry’s pass and fired his shot into the corner.

Argentina forward Lionel Messi made up for two earlier misses when he added the third from the penalty spot in the 81st minute after being brought down in the area, and he scored his eighth goal of the season.

Tempers flared when the Recreativo players refused to kick the ball out when Barcelona’s Andres Iniesta went down with an injury.

Iniesta started in place of Ronaldinho, who was rested after playing two World Cup qualifiers in the past week, while Eidur Gudjohnsen also had a rare chance to feature in midfield.

The result left Barcelona one point behind Real, who were to play Murcia later on Saturday.

In Saturday’s other match, Sevilla slumped to a seventh defeat this season with a 2-1 home reverse against Real Mallorca.

The UEFA Cup holders were 2-0 down before striker Fredi Kanoute scored four minutes after half-time.

On Sunday, third-placed Villarreal take on Almeria, Osasuna host Espanyol, Athletic Bilbao play Deportivo La Coruna, Racing Santander face fourth-placed Valencia, Atletico Madrid play Valladolid, Levante are at home to Real Betis and Zaragoza are up against Getafe. E-mail to a friend

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Home hero Hudec wins downhill race

ALBERTA, Canada — Jan Hudec became the first Canadian skier to win the men’s World Cup downhill race at Lake Louise on Saturday.

The Calgary resident, who was born in the Czech Republic, took out the event in a time of one minute 42.79 seconds on a course that was shortened because of lack of snow.

He headed off second-placed American Marco Sullivan by just 0.24 seconds, with Austria’s Andreas Buder finishing third.

It was the first podium finish in a World Cup event for Hudec, who won the silver medal in the downhill at last year’s world championships following a series of knee injuries.

The 26-year-old’s previous best finish was fifth in the second downhill at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, in February.

Hudec moved to Canada with his family in 1986, having previously lived in Germany.

Sullivan also captured his first podium place, while Buder was among the top three for only the second time following his runner-up finish in Garmisch in 2006. E-mail to a friend

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Lyon lose Benzema in win at Rennes

PARIS, France — Lyon midfielder Karim Benzema may miss next week’s vital Champions League clash with Barcelona after suffering an injury in the French league leaders’ 2-0 win over Rennes on Saturday.

The 20-year-old France international limped off just after half-time following a clash with Rennes captain Bruno Cheyrou.

The defending champions, who bounced back from the home defeat by Marseille two weeks ago, were already two goals ahead after first-half strikes from Juninho and Ben Arfa.

Brazilian deadball specialist Juninho scored in the fifth minute with a penalty after Benzema was tripped by defender Petter Hansson, although television replays showed the foul was outside the penalty area.

Arfa then waltzed past Rod Fanni and Guillaume Borne before blasting the ball past Simon Pouplin in the 24th minute.

Alain Perrin’s team go into Tuesday’s home match against Group E leaders Barcelona in third place, a point behind Scottish side Rangers with two matches still to play.

We managed to readjust things a little after our setback against Marseille, Perrin said.

Our form up front made all the difference, and defensively we were solid. Our only major worry is for Karim Benzema, who has taken a bad knock.

Lyon moved six points clear of second-placed Nancy, who were playing Lille later on Saturday night.

In other matches, Caen were hosting Bordeaux, Lens took on Lorient, Marseille faced Metz, Nancy played Lille, St Etienne were up against Sochaux, Strasbourg lined up against Valenciennes and Toulouse clashed with Monaco.

On Sunday, Auxerre will face Le Mans and Paris Saint-Germain travel to Nice.
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Arsenal clear as Ferguson sees red

LONDON, England — Arsenal moved three points clear at the top of the English Premier League after closest rivals Manchester United suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at Bolton on Saturday.

Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal team, who have played one less match than United, needed two late goals to end the challenge of struggling Wigan, winning 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in north London.

Captain William Gallas made the breakthrough in the 83rd minute with a powerful header from Bakary Sagna’s cross, while Tomas Rosicky fired in off the post two minutes later after being set up by substitute Nicklas Bendtner.

Young Denmark international Bendtner had come on for Theo Walcott, who was stretchered off in the second half after a tackle by Wigan substitute Emile Heskey.

England forward Heskey made his comeback after two months out with a broken foot, with caretaker manager Frank Barlow in charge of second-bottom Athletic before new boss Steve Bruce takes over on Monday.

Wenger, who was missing midfielders Cesc Fabregas, Alexander Hleb and Mathieu Flamini, said: Wigan defended absolutely brilliantly for 90 minutes but we managed to find the special resources we have.

This team has great mental strength. They really want and they are hungry.

United had manager Alex Ferguson sent to the stands at half-time, with his side trailing to former Arsenal striker Nicolas Anelka’s eight goal this season.

The Scot was furious after seeing several heavy tackles on his players — Kevin Davies was lucky not to be sent off for his challenges on full-back Patrice Evra — and remonstrated with the official in the tunnel at the interval.

They set an aggressive tone and we needed some protection from the referee but we didn’t get it, Ferguson said.

The first half was a shambles. It was just foul, after foul, after foul and we became embroiled ourselves. I don’t know if they targeted Patrice Evra but there were some terrible tackles on him.

I told him exactly what I thought and he didn’t like it. Some referees don’t like the truth. I just told him how bad I thought he was in the first half.

France forward Anelka celebrated his return to club action following a hamstring injury, scoring in the 11th minute after young defender Gerard Pique completely missed Ivan Campo’s free-kick.

Pique, standing in for the injured Nemanja Vidic, was replaced after 65 minutes as United desperately sought an equalizer.

Jussi Jaaskelainen did well to tip over a free-kick from Owen Hargreaves, and Carlos Tevez missed a sitter from close range following Evra’s low cross as Bolton held on to move a point clear of the relegation zone.

It was the first victory for manager Gary Megson in seven games in charge.

Manchester City snatched a late 2-1 victory against Reading to reclaim third place from Liverpool, who beat Newcastle 3-0 in the midday match.

Stephen Ireland scored a stunning volley in injury-time to maintain City’s perfect home record and leave Sven Goran Eriksson’s side just one point behind local rivals United.

Midfielder Ireland was involved in the build-up as Bulgaria winger Martin Petrov scored an 11th-minute opener for City, and Elano hit the post for the hosts before James Harper leveled just before half-time from Bobby Convey’s cut-back.

Everton thrashed Sunderland 7-1 at Goodison Park, with in-form Australia midfielder Tim Cahill scoring twice and Nigeria striker Aiyegbeni Yakubu also netting a brace.

Cahill has scored five goals in seven games since he returned from a broken foot as Everton extended their unbeaten in run to seven matches.

Steven Pienaar smashed in the third after 43 minutes before Roy Keane’s struggling Sunderland pulled one back through Dwight Yorke, while Andy Johnson and Leon Osman completed the rout after Cahill and Yakubu grabbed their second goals.

Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill ended a week of speculation over whether he was interested in the England job by seeing his side win 3-0 away to Middlesbrough.

The Northern Irishman, who said he did not want to replace the sacked Steve McClaren, led his side up to seventh place with England midfielder Gareth Barry setting up Norway striker John Carew for the opener on the stroke of half-time.

Defender Olof Mellberg scored his first goal since August 2006 in the 48th minute, before England Under-21 striker Gabriel Agbonlahor sealed the win 10 minutes later.

Portsmouth secured a top-six place as manager Harry Redknapp celebrated his 200th Premier League game in charge with a 2-0 win away to managerless Birmingham.

Debutant goalkeeper Richard Kingson allowed Sulley Muntari’s weak shot to slip under his body in the 34th minute and Croatia midfielder Niko Kranjcar smashed in an 82nd-minute free-kick.

Birmingham, seeking to replace the departed Bruce, were left just a point above the bottom three.

Chelsea were playing bottom side Derby in the late match.

In Sunday’s action, West Ham and Tottenham meet in a London derby, while Fulham host Blackburn. E-mail to a friend

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Wildfire destroys homes in hills near Malibu

MALIBU, California (AP) — A fast-moving wildfire destroyed about 20 homes and spread through the canyons and hills above Malibu on Saturday, forcing hundreds of residents to flee.

No injuries were reported.

The blaze, feeding on brush and trees and driven by the dry Santa Ana wind, began shortly before 3:30 a.m. PST near Malibu Lake on state park land and burned roughly 1,500 acres in about five hours, said Los Angeles County fire Capt. Mike Brown.

Fire officials estimated about 20 homes had been destroyed, but the exact number was not known. The cause of the fire had not been determined.

An enormous wall of smoke rose up over the hills and canyons. Watch homes burn in wildfire

About 200 homes in three communities were evacuated, Brown said. An evacuation center was set up at a local high school. View aerial pictures of the fire

Officials at Pepperdine University told their students to move to a campus shelter as a precaution. However, the university was largely empty because of the holiday weekend.

Prior to the Thanksgiving holiday I was told the weather conditions was Santa Ana winds and we all know what that means, said university spokesman Jerry Derloshon.

The blaze was blowing downhill toward the Pacific Ocean. It jumped Pacific Coast Highway, the main thoroughfare along the coast, spreading small spot fires.

About 500 firefighters were at work on the blaze, aided by 10 water-dropping helicopters, but had not contained any part of the fire by midmorning.

We’re at the mercy of the winds right now, Brown said.

Hundreds of firefighters had been placed on watch for the weekend as the Santa Ana wind returned to Southern California. Gusts up to 60 mph were reported in some mountain passes during the night.
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