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Sports

Rossi's first-half strike stuns Barcelona

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Valladolid, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Valladolid pulled off one of the upsets of the season on Saturday as Fausto Rossi's 17th-minute goal was enough to give the team a 1-0 win over Barcelona at the Jose Zorrilla Stadium.

Barca entered the weekend 40 points and 16 places above struggling Valladolid, but after Rossi's goal, the Catalans were never able to recover and couldn't find a way past Valladolid goalkeeper Diego Marino.

The loss drops Barcelona into third place after Atletico Madrid's 2-0 win over Celta Vigo on Saturday, while Barca is now in danger of falling four points back of leaders Real Madrid if the club wins at home against Levante on Sunday.

Rossi was in the right place at the right time in the 17th minute when a pair of shots from Valladolid were blocked. The second effort fell kindly for Rossi inside the penalty area and he lashed a shot past goalkeeper Victor Valdes.

Predictably the home side sat back and chose to defend its lead for much of the remainder of the game, with much of the credit going to Marino in goal for Valladolid.

He produced a pair of fine saves in quick succession to deny Lionel Messi and Cesc Fabregas before halftime, while he did extremely well to parry another Messi effort shortly after the break.

Neymar had a good look at goal for the visitors that he fired over the net, but the chances soon evaporated as Valladolid locked down at the back and closed out its most important win of the campaign, which lifts the club out of the bottom three on goal difference.

Atletico had a tough time in the first half against Celta Vigo, but David Villa unlocked the Celta defense to score twice in the span of two minutes to help his team pull level with Real Madrid at the top of the league.

Last-place Real Betis collected its fourth win of the season with a 2-0 home victory over Getafe thanks to first-half goals from Leo Baptistao and Ruben Castro, while Villarreal stumbled to a 2-0 defeat at Granada thanks to goals from Fran Rico and Youssef El Arabi, leaving the Yellow Submarine six points out of a place in the top four.