Benzema's brace helps Real cruise past Racing

Soccer Betting Lines

02/18/2012 - Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Karim Benzema netted a goal in each half as Real Madrid coasted to a 4-0 win over Racing at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.

The result stretches Madrid's lead to 13 points over second-place Barcelona, which hosts Valencia on Sunday, while Racing remains in the bottom three, two points from safety.

Cristiano Ronaldo got the hosts off to a quick start as he had the ball in the net after just six minutes when he nodded home a headed pass from Kaka a few yards from goal.

Racing was then reduced to 10 men in the 39th minute when Domingo Cisma picked up a second yellow card after he handled the ball just outside the penalty area.

Benzema scored on the stroke of halftime to double the lead after he was played into the area on the left and threw a shot at the net from a tight angle that found its way past goalkeeper Tono.

Angel Di Maria's goal in the 73rd minute made it 3-0 as he scored with a well- struck shot from outside the area, while Benzema tallied his 13th goal of the campaign in the 89th on a deflected shot that gave Tono no chance.

Getafe 1, Espanyol 1

Getafe, Spain - Getafe and Espanyol shared the points at the Alfonso Perez Coliseum on Saturday as each side netted a second-half goal in the 1-1 draw.

Getafe had the better of the play in the first half but fell behind in the 66th minute when Alvaro Vasquez beat the offside trap and fired his shot past goalkeeper Miguel Moya.

But the home side was back on level terms four minutes later when Miku was brought down inside the penalty area by Thievy Bifouma, allowing the Venezuelan to pick himself up and beat goalkeeper Francisco Casilla from the spot.

Espanyol remains in fourth with the result but can be passed by a handful of teams in Sunday's matches, while Getafe stays in the middle of the table.

Sevilla 2, Osasuna 0

Seville, Spain - Sevilla snapped an eight-game winless run on Saturday by handing Osasuna a 2-0 defeat at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

Gary Medel fired Sevilla in front with a shot from outside the penalty area following a pass from Alvaro Negredo in the 16th minute.

But despite having the better of the play the home side wasn't able to kill off the match until stoppage time with Jesus Navas finding Piotr Trochowski in the center of the penalty area and the striker placing the ball into the upper corner of the net.

Sevilla climbs into the top half of the league after the win, with Osasuna having won once in seven games to stay in eighth.

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.