Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/604914
56 56 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 NOVEMBER 2015 FOOTBALL RALLY RACING Sport Luis Suarez inspires Barcelona to crushing Clasico win at Real Madrid Barcelona claimed the first El Clasico victory of the season with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu FROM the first minute to the last, a below-par Madrid side were de- feated as a Luis Suarez brace and goals from Neymar and Andres Iniesta sealed Barca's 10th Clasico victory from their previous 15 meetings. With an estimated global audi- ence of 400 million, Luis Enrique's side put on a performance fitting of the game's box-office billing, dominating a below-par Real side who rarely threatened to test the La Liga leaders. When Real did create chances, they were thwarted but the in- spired Claudio Bravo, who single- handedly ensured Barca would left the Bernabeu with a clean sheet. Lionel Messi's return from two months out injured late on add- ed extra satisfaction to a victory which saw Barca open up a six- point gap over Real at the summit of La Liga. All the pre-match build-up con- cerned the return of Messi, al- though his long-awaited return was put on hold with Enrique keeping faith in Suarez and Ney- mar up front from the start. After an end to end start, it proved to be the right decision as Barca took the lead on 11 minutes. Real were unable to deal with Ser- gi Roberto's run from deep and his disguised pass fell for Suarez, who he made no mistake to curl- ing the ball around Keylor Navas with a first-time finish. Barca should have been two to the good shortly after, but Rob- erto failed to make the most of Iniesta's raking pass before Ivan Rakitic blazed a shot over the bar. The reoccurrence of Javier Mascherano's groin injury, and subsequent substitution, did lit- tle to deter Barca from the task at hand, as the continued to create chances. Only a fine diving save from Na- vas prevented Neymar's free-kick from making it two on 24 minutes before Roberto somehow missed target from eight yards shortly after. Real were limited to shots in anger, with James Rodriguez call- ing Bravo into action with a long- range drive on 28 minutes, until the returning Karim Benzema spurned a glorious chance to level the game ten minutes later. And it proved to be a costly miss as Neymar evaded Real's offside trap, gathered Iniesta's through ball and slotted the ball under Na- vas to double the visitors' lead. After the break, Real threatened to haul themselves back into con- tention as Marcelo rifled a shot into the side-netting before Bravo again proved unpassable, denying James' low drive. But Barca soon showed their class and had a third on 53 min- utes when, having collected the ball in acres of space, Iniesta played a neat one-two with Ney- mar and drilled the ball high past Navas. Thing then went from bad to worse for Real as Messi entered the fray and they were denied claims for a penalty as Gerard Pique's handling of Gareth Bale's cross went unpunished. Messi and Neymar then com- bined brilliantly to set up Suarez for his second and Barca's fourth on 74 minutes, with the Uruguay- an staying composed to produce a delightful chipped finish over Navas. And, to add insult to injury, sub- stitute Isco's rash challenge on Neymar saw a deflated Madrid side end the game with ten men. Luis Suarez celebrates his goal CITROEN will withdraw from next year's World Rally Championship, taking a season out to develop its all-new 2017 World Rally Car. The Versailles team's decision confirms its long-term commit- ment to the World Rally Cham- pionship, with an extended WRC programme starting from 2017 at the expense of its World Touring Car Championship programme. The news was revealled in the summer that the French firm would opt out of either WRC or the WTCC from 2017 onwards, with rallying preferred long-term. Citroen will remain in the WTCC next season with Jose Maria Lopez and Yvan Muller. Sebastien Loeb will de- part, bound for Peugeot Sport and a Dakar pro- gramme. Linda Jackson, chief ex- ecutive officer of the Citro- en brand said: "Rallying is a fascinating sport, which tests the performance, re- liability and solidity of the cars and drivers in some magnificent settings. "The category is taking off again, with increasingly widespread live television coverage and the arrival of China on the calendar in 2016. "In 2017, the appearance of a new generation of cars, which are pur- ported to be very attractive, will coincide with our renewed involve- ment. "Everything will therefore be in place for us to write a new chapter in our his- tory. Given the brand's rich heritage, this chal- lenge had to be ambi- tious. "We will however be modest in our approach, gradually stepping up our objectives to the very top." Team principal Yves Matton added: "We have never hidden our interest in the 2017 WRC regulations and the en- tire team is extremely motivated by this new challenge. "We like the freedom granted to make the cars more spectacular, but also the possibility of reusing development work done on the C- Elysee WTCC's engine. "With a view to managing our re- sources efficiently, we have decided to focus all our efforts on design- ing and developing our new World Rally Car. "This is why Citroen will not be competing in the 2016 World Rally Championship as a works team. "We will obviously be keeping a close eye on the WRC, both with the organisation of the FIA Junior WRC and with the WRC2 pro- gramme for Quentin Gilbert, this year's JWRC Champion." Citroen to sit out 2016 WRC season