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"Atletico" fans in Madrid hope that their team finally climbs out of the streak of failures - on Saturday, the Madrid club they support at home defeated La Coruna's "Deportivo" 3-2 and won their second consecutive victory.
"Atletico" broke through in the middle of the first half with a goal from Argentine national team defender Maxi Rodriguez, but the guests, who played without the injured leader Juan Carlos Valeron, managed to equalize at the beginning of the second half, when substitute Ruben Castro scored a penalty.
In the middle of the second half, "Atletico" again took the lead after a successfully converted penalty by Antonio Lopez, but the guests managed to equalize again when former "Atletico" defender Joan Capdevila scored with a header after a corner kick.
However, "Atletico" managed to secure their third home victory of the season - less than ten minutes before the end of the match, the first goalscorer Maxi Rodriguez scored after a pass from Bulgarian Martin Petrov from the left flank.
In other Saturday matches, Athletic Bilbao, trying to climb from the bottom of the table, defeated Madrid's Getafe 1-0 at home, with midfielder Pablo Orbaiz scoring the only goal in the 74th minute from the penalty spot. The penalty was awarded for a foul on Francisco Yeste. Although Getafe crushed Barcelona's Espanyol at home 5-0 in the previous round, on Saturday they suffered their seventh consecutive defeat away.
The third Saturday match between the teams "Cadiz" and "Racing Santander" ended in a 1-1 draw. "Racing Santander" took the lead in the middle of the second half when Felipe Melo successfully converted a penalty from eleven meters, but eight minutes later the hosts rightfully equalized when left-back Raul Lopez sent the ball into the visitors' net with a strong shot.
Saturday statistics:
Madrid 3 - 2 La Coruna
33` [1 - 0] Maxi Rodriguez
47` [1 - 1] Ruben Castro
54` [2 - 1] Antonio Lopez
58` [2 - 2] Joan Capdevila
81` [3 - 2] Maxi Rodriguez
1 - 0 Madrid
74` [1 - 0] Pablo Orbaiz (pen.)
1 - 1
66` [0 - 1] Felipe Melo (pen.)
75` [1 - 1] Raul Lopez
Sunday matches:
Valencia - Zaragoza
Sevilla - Villarreal
Osasuna - Betis
Espanyol - Malaga
Alaves - Real Sociedad
Mallorca - Barcelona
Celta - Real
Top scorers:
1. Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona) - 18 goals;
2. David Villa (Valencia) - 13;
3. Ronaldinho (Barcelona) - 11;
4. Diego Tristan (Deportivo) - 10.
Standings
