MADRID, Oct 30: Girona earned a shock victory over Real Madrid that was celebrated by many throughout Catalonia on Sunday.

The small Catalan club stunned Madrid, the team of the Spanish establishment, with a 2-1 come-from-behind win in the Spanish league — just days after the wealthy northeastern region declared independence to heighten tensions in a dispute with the central government.

Pro-independence politicians were quick to celebrate.

“Girona’s victory over one of the great teams in the world is an example and a reference for many situations,” tweeted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont.

It was Madrid’s first trip to Catalonia since Spain’s political crisis escalated. The match was played after hundreds of thousands of Catalans took to the streets of Barcelona to voice their opposition to the unilateral declaration of independence. Catalonia’s political leadership was fired by central authorities in Madrid who are trying to tame the worst political turmoil Spain has seen in decades.

“Today, all of Spain and a great part of the world saw that a small team can achieve anything in this great game of football when it does things well, when it has ambition and pride,” Girona coach Pablo Machin said.

The result left Madrid eight points behind Spanish league leader Barcelona, which on Saturday won 2-0 at Athletic Bilbao for its ninth victory in 10 league matches.

Second-place Valencia, which won 2-1 at Alaves on Saturday, is four points off the lead.

“We can still overcome this,” Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said. “We will have better days and our rivals will eventually lose points.”

Despite security concerns ahead of the Spanish capital team’s visit to Girona, a city filled with separatist sentiment just north of Barcelona, there were no major incidents before, during or after the game.

Several pro-independence flags were on display at the small Montilivi Stadium, and the crowd sang “freedom” chants, but nothing disrupted the match. A few Real Madrid supporters could be seen mixed with the local fans in the stands.

Most in the crowd of nearly 14,000 were on their feet throughout the final minutes, and celebrated loudly when the final whistle was blown.

Girona, in its inaugural season in the first division, played well from the start, keeping Madrid from imposing its game.

It almost opened the scoring just before Madrid’s first goal in the 12th minute, when Pablo Maffeo’s shot struck the far post. The Madrid defense picked up the rebound and started a quick counterattack which culminated with Isco scoring a few seconds later after Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot was partly saved by goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.

The hosts turned the match around with quick goals early in the second half. Veteran striker Christian Stuani equalized with a low shot from inside the area in the 54th, and Portu netted the winner four minutes later from close range. Replays showed that Portu was slightly offside.

“We struggled a lot,” Madrid midfielder Casemiro said. “It’s a complicated moment, but we have to stay calm. We need to start playing better, we need to work harder.”

Lucas Vazquez had a goal disallowed for offside in the 83rd.

Girona, 12th in the standings with 12 points, had already hit the post in the first half.

Girona made a promising start to its top-flight debut, earning a draw against Atletico Madrid and a win at Malaga to give fans hopes of a successful season, but it went on a six-game winless streak until defeating Deportivo La Coruna last week.

Midfielder Recio converted an 83rd-minute penalty kick and Malaga defeated Celta Vigo 2-1 for its first win in 11 matches this season.

Malaga left the bottom of the standings with the win, moving a point above Alaves.

Striker Jorge Molina scored with an 85th-minute penalty kick to give Getafe a 2-1 home victory over Real Sociedad, snapping the club’s four-game winless streak.

Both teams are in the middle of the table.

Mid-table Levante relinquished a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw at struggling Eibar, which hasn’t won in seven matches. AP

LONDON, Oct 24: Real Madrid’s Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned the best football player in the world for the second year running at FIFA’s The Best awards gala on Monday.

The four-time Ballon d‘Or winner won a La Liga and Champions League double with the Madrid club this year, striking twice against Juventus in the European Cup final to help Real become the first team to retain the trophy in its current format.

Barcelona’s Argentina forward Lionel Messi, who has won the Ballon d‘or five times, and Paris St Germain’s Brazil forward Neymar were runners up for the award voted for by national team coaches and captains plus the media and fans.

The Best FIFA Men’s Player award and the Ballon d‘or, which is voted for only by the media, are now separate awards.

Real Madrid’s French coach Zinedine Zidane won the manager of the year trophy for his part in the club’s success.

Five Real players were named in the best XI of the year, with Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos joining Ronaldo, while Messi, Neymar, Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Dani Alves (PSG), Leonardo Bonucci (AC Milan) and Andres Iniesta (Barcelona) were also selected.

Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud won the Puskas Award for the best goal of the year, which was the Frenchman’s scorpion kick against Crystal Palace, and Buffon was declared best goalkeeper.

The Netherlands’ Lieke Martens won best female player of the year, while the Dutch women’s national team coach Sarina Weigman was voted best manager after the team’s triumph at Euro 2017. REUTERS

MADRID, May 22: Thousands of Real Madrid fans, many decked in the famous white team jersey, converged in the centre of the Spanish capital to celebrate the club’s 33rd league title after a 2-0 win over Malaga.

Elated fans cheered and lit flares when the squad arrived on an open-top bus bearing the word “Campeones” (champions) on the side at the club’s traditional celebration spot, the Plaza de Cibeles, as confetti rained down.

Team captain Sergio Ramos and other players decked in white shirts with the number 33 on the back filmed the crowd with mobile phones from the top of the bus, which was escorted by police on horseback.

Ramos took to a walkway over the plaza’s fountain and draped the statue of the goddess Cybele with the club flag just before 3:00 am (0100 GMT) as Queen’s anthem “We Are the Champions” blared out from loudspeakers.

Real Madrid left-back Marcelo then tied a team scarf around the statue as the crowd cheered.

“We have to win the Champions League now. We are counting on all of your support. Let’s Go! Thank you very much,” Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo said atop the walkway before singing along with the crowd.

Ronaldo and French striker Karim Benzema scored the two goals which gave Real their win over Malaga and their first Spanish league title since 2012.

The club will pursue a third UEFA Champions League victory in four seasons in the final against Juventus, who on Sunday secured third successive Serie A and Coppa Italia double, in Cardiff on June 3.

“This is great and on June 3 against Juventus it will be even better,” said 37-year-old Real supporter Emilio Guillen as he celebrated with friends at Plaza de Cibeles.

If Real win the Champions League, it would be the club’s first La Liga and European champions cup double in nearly six decades.

Many fans heaped praise on Real coach Zinedine Zidane, the former French international who took over the club for his first head coaching job less than two years ago.

“Hiring Zidane was the best decision Real has made in a long time,” said Alfredo Cordero, 36, who had a club flag drapped over his back and carried a large plastic cup of sangria.

The team will be welcomed to Madrid city hall on Monday for a ceremony to celebrate their Spanish league win.

“They are players of a very high quality, so I don’t have to say more. I am a Real Madrid fan and I am thrilled,” said 31-year-old Real supporter Alvaro Morales.-AFP

MADRID, May 7: Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez scored twice as a much-changed Real Madrid moved to within three victories of winning La Liga with a 4-0 demolition of Tony Adams’s already-relegated Granada.

Earlier, Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were all on target to take their combined tally for the season to 102 as Barcelona kept pace at the top with a 4-1 win over Villarreal.

Barca remain top thanks to their superior head-to-head record with the two locked on 84 points, but Real have three games remaining to the Catalans’ two.

Real coach Zinedine Zidane continued his rotation policy of recent weeks with nine changes from the side that beat Atletico Madrid 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Tuesday as hat-trick hero Cristiano Ronaldo was left out of the squad entirely.

However, it mattered little as Real maintained their perfect La Liga record in nine games without Ronaldo this season.

“For a coach it is the best possible news,” said Zidane.

“It means that everyone is involved, in good physical condition, every time they get a chance to play they do well. I can only be satisfied with that.”

Barely two minutes had gone when Lucas Vazquez got in behind the Granada defence and squared for Rodriguez to tap home the opener.

The Colombian then powered home a header from Fabio Coentrao’s cross just nine minutes later.

Adams made a substitution after just 16 minutes as Uche Agbo replaced Aly Malle, but it couldn’t prevent the one-way traffic.

“Real Madrid are at another level to us, they’ve got some fantastic players but we gave it to them too easily in the first-half,” said Adams.

Morata blasted home Danilo’s low cross then bullied Martin Hongla out of the way to fire home his 20th goal of the season.

Vazquez then hit the bar and Casemiro somehow shot over with the goal at his mercy as Madrid’s dominance of the first 45 minutes left some Granada fans in tears.

Real had mercy on the hosts after the break, but now just need seven points from their last three games against Sevilla, Celta Vigo and Malaga to seal a first La Liga title in five years.

Barca maintained the pressure on the European champions with all of their front three on top form against Villarreal.

Neymar took advantage of a blocked shot from Messi to prod home the opener from close range after 21 minutes.

However, Villarreal striker Cedric Bakambu continued his brilliant form to bring the visitors levels just 11 minutes later when he streaked clear of Gerard Pique before slotting home his seventh goal in six games.

Barca got a slice of luck to regain the lead just before the break as Messi’s effort from the edge of the area deflected beyond Andres Fernandez for the Argentine’s 50th goal of the season and to bring up a combined 100 for he, Suarez and Neymar for the campaign.

Suarez took that tally to 101 and killed the game off as a contest when he turned Jaume Costa and fired low and hard past Fernandez.

Costa was also the man at fault as he was harshly adjudged to have handled inside his own box after a sensational piece of skill from Neymar eight minutes from time.

“Any football fan should value what Neymar does,” said Barca coach Luis Enrique.

“Often it seems much more like ballet than a football move. It is exceptional, beautiful, effective and spectacular.”

And Messi chipped the resulting penalty down the middle of the goal to round off the scoring.

Atletico guaranteed a top-four finish as Saul Niguez’s winner 21 minutes from time earned a 1-0 win over Eibar.

At the other end of the table Sporting Gijon kept their hopes of staying up alive with a 1-0 win over Las Palmas.