VALENCIA, Spain -- Gareth Bale filled the void left by the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, sealing Real Madrids 19th Copa del Rey title with a late goal in Wednesdays 2-1 win over Barcelona.
[b]Discount Salomon Shoes Online[/b] . Ronaldos extra-time play gave Madrid the 2011 Copa del Rey title at Barcelonas expense. In his absence Wednesday, Bale scored in the 85th minute -- his first goal in three "clasico" matches -- to make sure Madrid repeated the feat. Angel Di Maria scored Madrids opener from a counterattack in the 11th minute, capitalizing on a Barcelona lineup that seemed to lack ideas in attack and was slow to recover in defence. Defender Marc Bartra equalized against the run of play in the 67th by heading in from a corner kick to ruin goalkeeper Iker Casillas record run of not conceding in this edition of the tournament. The goal appeared to energize Barcelona, sparking Lionel Messi into action and ensuring the last 15 minutes became a frenetic back-and-forth contest. But with the game hanging in the balance, Bale got the winner when he sprinted down the left side of the pitch, even running out of bounds to avoid Bartra, before racing into the area and rolling the ball under goalkeeper Jose Pinto. "It is difficult to see a player be able to sprint like that at that stage of the game," Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino said. "The game was going our way after we had levelled, until that counterattack." Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said the goal was "surely the most important" of Bales career, which took a major turn last summer when Madrid broke its own spending record to pay his (euro)100-million transfer to pry him from Tottenham. "It was a decisive moment. When Bartra scored anything could have happened," Ancelotti said. Barcelona, however, still had one last chance, only for Neymars shot to hit the upright in the 90th. Neymars last-gasp effort almost "scared us to death," Casillas said. "Fortune was on our side, and we are thankful for it." Ronaldo joined his teammates to celebrate with their fans on the pitch before the team filed past King Juan Carlos to receive their medals and the prized trophy. The plane carrying the Spanish monarch had technical problems that delayed take-off, but he arrived on time to watch the match along with more than 50,000 spectators divided into large sections of white and blue-and-burgundy club colours. After failing to win the cup competition between 1993 and 2011, Madrid has won it twice in the last four years. Ancelotti earned his first trophy for Madrid and first "clasico" win after losing his first two meetings with Barcelona, and his team will now focus on overtaking Atletico Madrid in the league and its Champions League semifinal against Bayern Munich. The loss is a setback for Barcelona and a major blow to Martino. In an eight-day span, Barcelona exited Europes top-tier competition with a loss, slipped to third place in the Spanish league, and then lost Copa del Rey to its fiercest rival. "It has been a hard week on all fronts," said Martino, who remains confident of hanging on to his job for one more season. "As I have said for one, two, three months now, I dont feel that my future has changed because of all that we lost, and nor do I think it would be different if we had won." Barcelona will now have to catch both Madrid and Atletico with only five rounds left in the Spanish league to make sure it doesnt end the season without a major piece of silverware for the first time since the arrival of Pep Guardiola in 2008-09.
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[b]Wholesale Salomon Shoes[/b] .28 mph. Logano will start on the front row next to Penske Ford teammate Brad Keselowski, who came in second Friday at 193.099. The Penske drivers swept the top two spots for the second straight race, reversing their qualifying finish in Phoenix a week ago.ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Corey Perry has made a living by scoring timely goals. Perry scored his NHL-leading eighth winner of the season with 1.3 seconds on the clock in overtime, giving the Anaheim Ducks a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night. The 2011 MVP has a league-best 30 winning goals since the start of the 2010-11 season. "You could see it on his face every time he came to the bench. He was getting so frustrated," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "The last game and this game, he was getting so many good looks. Hopefully thatll break the ice and hell do what he normally does." The Ducks went on the power play at 3:54 of overtime when defenceman Kevin Bieksa was called for hooking. Ryan Getzlaf passed the puck to Perry from the blue line for a shot that beat rookie goalie Eddie Lack for his team-high 23rd goal. "I got the monkey off my back," Perry said. "I saw a couple seconds on the clock, yelled for the puck going to the net and knew I had to shoot right away. It probably fooled him and found a way to go in." The Ducks, off to a franchise-best 31-8-5 start and 17-0-2 at Honda Center, are the only team without a regulation loss at home. Anaheim is also the third club to open a season with a home point streak of 19 or more games, joining San Jose (2008-09) and Philadelphia (1979-80). The Ducks have won 13 of 14 overall since losing back-to-back shootouts against San Jose and Los Angeles. Bonino tied it with 1:27 left in regulation. Saku Koivu and Matt Beleskey scored in the second, and Jonas Hiller stopped 17 shots to extend his club-record and career-best winning streak to 11. Ryan Kesler and Henrik Sedin scored power play goals 2 minutes apart in the first, and Bieksa scored in the third for the Canucks. Lack made a career-high 45 saves, one night after Roberto Luongo had 45 in a loss to Los Angeles in his return following a three-game absence with a groin injury. "He brought it to another level tonight," Canucks coach John Tortorella said. "You try to find some good stuff (from a game like this), and that is certainly some real good stuff there." Luongo sat out, and Lacks backup was 43-year-old Rob Laurie -- who has never appeared in an NHL game and hasnt played professionally since 2002. The Southern California resident was summoned on an emergency basis. The Canucks also lost both ends of a Los-Angeles-Anaheim back-to-back set on Nov. 9-10. "You play good teams like Anaheim and L.
[b]Salomon Shoes Outlet Store[/b]. A. and you learn a lot of lessons," defenceman Dan Hamhuis said. "They expose things in your game that are not solid. We saw that in L.A., and we talked about that this morning. "Both games we had early leads and then we sat back. That is the biggest thing as to why we are giving up so many shots. We are playing not to lose, and we have to start playing to win at all times." Anaheim outshot Vancouver 40-7 over the second and third periods. Kyle Palmieri blocked Jason Garrisons one-timer from just inside the Anaheim blue line and carried the puck into the Vancouver zone, where he made a backhanded pass from the left circle into the slot. Beleskey backhanded it past Lack at 16:38 of the second to make it 2-all. The Canucks regained the lead when Bieksas wrist shot from just inside the blue line got past a screened Hiller 66 seconds into the third. But the Ducks pulled even again as Daniel Winnik stole Garrisons attempted clearing pass and fed Bonino for the goal. "Weve beaten ourselves a little bit," Tortorella said. "Weve had a lot of struggles in a lot of different areas the past couple of games. We have to keep our heads, and keep on working at our game." Vancouver, 2 for 23 on the power play over its previous eight games, took a 1-0 lead 9:40 in with Keslers 17th goal, scored one minute after Perry tripped Jannik Hansen. The Ducks were short-handed again less than a minute later after a penalty for too many men on the ice. Sedin scored his 10th goal on a deflection of Garrisons shot. "You cant do that against good teams. But we never backed down and we kept grinding," Perry said. "Those things are what character teams are made of. Were going to keep coming at you." The Canucks, who began the day with the best penalty-killing percentage in the league at 89.4, thwarted Anaheims first two power plays before Perrys winner. The Ducks are 2 for 34 over their last 11 games, including a season-worst 0 for 8 in Fridays win over Edmonton. NOTES: Perry has 44 points through 44 games. He had 15 goals and 36 points in the 44 games he played last season. ... Vancouver RW Zack Kassian left the game for good at 4:11 of the second period after teammate Tom Sestito caught him in the face with his skate while they were trying to get the puck away from Anaheim D Hampus Lindholm deep in the Ducks zone. ... Hiller has allowed 23 goals on 268 shots and given up more than two in a game only twice during his winning streak.
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