Barca, Real title race heads to final week

Soccer Betting Lines

05/08/2010 - Seville, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lionel Messi scored his La Liga-leading 32nd goal Saturday, and Barcelona held off Sevilla 3-2 to maintain a one-point lead over Real Madrid atop the standings entering the final week of the season.

Bojan Krkic and Pedro also scored for Barca, which built a three-goal lead at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan and held on against 10-man Sevilla. Frederic Kanoute and Luis Fabiano scored two minutes apart in the second for Sevilla.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his sixth goal in his last three games, leading Real Madrid to a 5-1 win over 10-man Athletic Bilbao at the Bernabeu.

Barcelona took control of the match inside five minutes, when Messi finished a pass from Maxwell for the opener. Messi played Maxwell's short chip pass down off his chest, made a touch with his left foot and fired into the bottom right from 16 yards.

Barca doubled the lead before the half-hour mark, as Xavi put Krkic through on a first-time pass, and Krkic held off Sevilla's Abdoulay Konko to slot back to the far post in the 28th.

Konko was sent off in the 56th after receiving his second yellow, and Messi set up Pedro's goal in the 62nd when his shot was blocked at the top of the box. The rebound rolled to Pedro, who scored from the top of the area.

Fabiano set up Kanoute's goal in the 69th, and scored his own in the 71st, but short-handed Sevilla couldn't finish the comeback. Sevilla heads into the last week of the season in a battle with Mallorca for fourth and a Champions League berth. Sevilla is currently fourth, one points ahead of Mallorca.

In Madrid, Ronaldo converted a penalty kick in the 22nd after a red card to Bilbao's Fernando Amorebieta, but Real failed to hold the edge until halftime.

Francisco Yeste found the bottom left in the 41st from the top of the box, and Athletic pulled level to leave Real's title hopes in jeopardy.

Bilbao kept the match level at 1-1 for nearly 30 minutes, but Gonzalo Higuain scored in the 73rd minute for his team-high 27th goal, and Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema and Marcelo added goals in the final 15 minutes.

Riki scored in the 68th as Deportivo edged Mallorca 1-0. Mallorca remained one point behind Sevilla, as the teams battle for either a Champions League place or a Europa League berth in the final week.

Giuseppe Rossi and Joseba Llorente scored as Villarreal topped Valencia 2-0 to enter the final week in position to earn a Europa League berth. Villarreal is level on points with Getafe for sixth place.

Roberto Soldado and Pedro Leon scored as Getafe topped Malaga 2-1 to maintain pace with Villarreal.

Malaga enters the final weekend as one of five teams still fighting to avoid relegation. Malaga is level on points with Racing, Valladolid and Tenerife. Xerez is three points behind the group in last, with all five teams still in danger.

Also Saturday, Xerez edged Real Zaragoza 3-2, Gijon tied Atletico Madrid 1-1, Espanyol defeated Osasuna 2-1, Valladolid edged Racing 2-1, and Tenerife tied Almeria 2-2.

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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