Valdes howler hands beaten real lifeline

An embarrassing blunder by Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes handed Real Madrid a Spanish Super Cup lifeline on Thursday despite slumping to a 3-2 first leg defeat at their Catalan rivals’ Camp Nou home. With Barca 3-1 ahead, and pressing for a fourth goal, Valdes was caught out inside his own penalty area as he tried to dribble the ball clear only to be dispossessed by a stunned Angel Di Maria who scored into an empty goal. Pedro Rodriguez, Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandez had earlier scored second-half goals to give Barca a convincing lead after Cristiano Ronaldo had put Madrid ahead on 55 minutes. Madrid coach Jose Mourinho questioned the legality of Barca’s first goal. “Barca played well, especially in the first-half when they did not allow us to play, but in the second we were able to change our game a little. It was a good game but their first goal was an error by the linesman and was offside,” he said.