Real survives Betis' belligerence

A war of words between Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho, waged from the forward bunker of the press room, had been simmering in the build-up to Real Madrid's league match against Betis, one of many reasons those of a claret-and-blue persuasion would have been cheering the green-and-white half of Seville to the rafters on Saturday night as the home side went down valiantly on the wrong end of a 3-2 score line.

In a league where a majority of the more modest sides set themselves for damage limitation when Real and Barcelona come calling, Pepe Mel's side refuses to be bowed. At Camp Nou in January Betis, newly promoted and early frontrunners in the standing, sought to attack Barça - Guardiola's back three experiment was again cut short as the visitor scythed through his defense time and again - and despite falling behind clawed back a two-goal deficit, only succumbing to the host after being rather harshly reduced to 10 men.

Against Real in the Villamarín stadium, Betis snatched the lead through Jorge Molina and, after Gonzalo Higuaín and Cristiano Ronaldo had struck back, leveled when Jefferson Montero, a thorn in Real's side all evening, thrashed home a sloppy Álvaro Arbeloa clearance. When Ronaldo, bagging his 32nd goal of another remarkable season, gave Real the lead on 72 minutes, Mel responded by throwing on striker Roque Santa Cruz and, a few minutes later, attacking midfielder José Cañas. Betis was not going to lie down for Ronaldo and co to tickle its collective stomach.

Mel's side subsequently pegged Real back in its own half, launching attack after attack and giving the visitor a torrid time, the like of which it has barely faced all season. Betis' belligerence should have reaped just reward when Sergio Ramos appeared to halt a goalbound Montero shot with his arm in the dying seconds, but the referee was unmoved, as he had been when Xabi Alonso had handled more clearly earlier in the game. "If anyone deserved to win it was Betis," noted Mel. Mourinho, magnanimously, almost concurred: "I think a tie would have been more appropriate."

Barcelona on Sunday maintained its pursuit of the Liga leader at Racing Santander, where Leo Messi took his league tally for the season to 30 with both goals in a routine 2-0 win over a side struggling in the relegation zone. However, the 10-point gap between Barça and Real can be wholly attributed to the former's away form this season, where all but two of its dropped points have been relinquished; at Camp Nou, a single tie against Sevilla is the only blemish on the reigning champion's otherwise perfect record.

In Sunday's late game, Athletic Bilbao was looking to cap a stellar week with victory at Osasuna, which would lift the Lions into the final Champions League berth.