BARCELONA kept up their challenge for Spain's second European Cup place last night thanks to goals from Ronaldo and Abelardo Fernandez in a comfortable 2-0 home victory over Athletic Bilbao.
The win took them one point ahead of Real Betis - 1-0 winners at Tenerife on Saturday - and three ahead of Deportivo who beat Logrones 2-1. With wins for all the chasing teams, leaders Real Madrid will have to win at Valencia tonight to restore their 10-point lead over Barcelona.
Barcelona survived an early scare when Julen Guerrero broke free and thudded the ball against the post. Bobby Robson's side took control of the game but went unrewarded for their first half efforts. However, the second ha, If was just four minutes old when Abelardo rose above the Athletic defence to head home a Guardiola free-kick.
Ronaldo made it two when he latched on to a pass from fellow Brazilian Giovanni and there was no way back for the visitors when Oscar Vales was sent off for a second clumsy challenge 15 minutes from time.
Parma blew their chance of closing the gap on Italy's serie A leaders Juventus when they crashed to a surprise 2-0 defeat at the hands of Udinese yesterday. Parma remain six points adrift of Juventus after Udinese, who beat the leaders last week, added a second high-flying scalp thanks to second-half goals from defender Alessandro Pierini and German international Oliver Bierhoff who converted a penalty.
Parma are now under increasing pressure from Internazionale who are just a point behind after Saturday's 2-1 win over Cagliari. Fourth-placed Sampdoria were held to a goalless draw at home to Verona while Lazio, in fifth, made up some ground with a crushing 6-1 win over bottom club Reggiana, striker Igor Protti netting a 15-minute hat-trick in the first half.
Meanwhile, Bayer Leverkusen cut Bayern Munich's lead in the German league to three points. In the only game played yesterday, Leverkusen stepped up their title campaign with a 2-1 victory over VfB Stuttgart.
Paulo Sergio and Ulf Kirsten got the goals which moved Leverkusen three points clear in second place ahead of champions Borussia Dortmund.
Nice booked their place in the French cup final with a lone strike from Thierry de Neef in the 33rd minute enough to sink Second-Division Laval. In the final at Parc des Princes on May 10th, they will face Guingamp who beat Montpellier 2-0 after extra time in the other semi-final on Saturday.
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