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The leaders of the Spanish championship "Barcelona" achieved an incredible victory at home in the 30th round of matches against "Mallorca" on Sunday. Meanwhile, "Valencia", who still have hopes of fighting for the championship title, defeated another top four team "Sevilla" 2-0 in a very important match, adding even more intrigue to the Spanish championship. "Zaragoza" lost their place in the top four as they unexpectedly lost 0-1 to league underdogs Taragona's "Gimnastic" on Sunday. Having disappointingly exited the UEFA Champions League this week, "Valencia" bounced back successfully with a great victory against one of the championship leaders. The hosts broke through playing for just under half an hour, with David Villa scoring a goal after a good play with Carlos Marchena. This goal seemed to awaken "Sevilla", who responded with several dangerous attacks in just a few minutes, including actively demanding a penalty of eleven meters for a mistake by Miguel against Brazilian Luis Fabiano. Although the referee did not pay attention to the players' complaints, he awarded a penalty after a few minutes when the same Miguel brought down Jesus Navas in the penalty area. The penalty was taken by Italian Enzo Maresca, but it was spectacularly saved by Santiago Canizares, who once again caused "Chelsea" players to have headaches on Tuesday, but conceded a very painful goal at the end of the match. Until the end of the first half, both teams exchanged dangerous attacks, but the result did not change. The end of the match became clear early in the second half when Andreas Hinkel received a red card for a last hope foul against D. Villa, and the same D. Villa successfully converted the penalty awarded by the referee. The Sevilla players remaining on the field for the last ten minutes collapsed and rarely threatened the hosts' goal, while within "Valencia"'s ranks, D. Villa, Joaquin, and Miguel could have scored a third goal. In a rather dull match at the "Nou Camp" stadium, the hosts' victory was decided by the only goal scored by former "Barcelona" player Fernando Navarro into his own net at the end of the match. As the ball rebounded from the crossbar, Javier Saviola tried to shoot, but the ball rebounded off F. Navarro and then went into the goal. "Barcelona", missing their leader Ronaldinho due to illness, looked very dull in this match, while "Mallorca" focused mostly on defense and attempted dangerous counterattacks. In the middle of the first half, the visitors had a great opportunity to break forward when "Barcelona" goalkeeper Victor Valdes brought down Jonas Gutierrez in the penalty area. However, the goalkeeper redeemed his mistake when he saved the Argentine's attempt from the penalty spot. "Barcelona"'s game changed only on the field after substitutions by J. Saviola and Xavi, but the hosts only managed to break through when fortune finally smiled on them. On Sunday, the outsiders "Zaragoza", who unexpectedly lost away, now occupy fifth place with 50 points and share it with Madrid's "Atletico", who hardly defeated Valencia's "Levante" players fighting for survival in the league 1-0 at home on Sunday. On the other side of the tournament table, the new team started successfully under the leadership of Bulgarian legend Hristo Stoichkov, helping Vigo's "Celta" to defeat one of their fiercest rivals, La Coruna's "Deportivo", 1-0 at home. The only goal was scored by Brazilian Fernando Baiano, allowing "Celta" to achieve their first victory in the last seven matches and only the second victory this season at the "Balaidos" stadium. Great veteran Ismael Urzaiz's performance allowed Bilbao's "Athletic" to recover from a missed goal and achieve a very important 2-1 victory against Barcelona's "Espanyol". Although the hosts were trailing after Jonatas's goal at the start of the match, the forward scored two of his own "signature" goals with his head and allowed the Basque team to distance themselves from the bottom of the tournament table. This victory allowed "Barcelona" to increase their lead over "Sevilla" in second place to four points.
