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During the 36th round of matches in the Spanish championship ("La Liga") held on Sunday, "Mallorca", fighting for survival in the highest Spanish league, surprisingly secured a victory against Bilbao "Athletic", taking advantage of "Levante" drawing with "Barcelona" and reducing the gap from the 17th "safe" position to a minimal one-point lead.
With only two rounds remaining in the championship, there is still intrigue in the battle for the remaining two spots in next year's UEFA Champions League: "Villarreal" team secured the best position in these races by winning with a minimal result against "Albacete", while "Sevilla" played a draw with Madrid's "Real" on Saturday. Sevilla's "Betis" is also part of this battle, winning 2-1 against Madrid's "Atletico" as guests in this round. Sevilla's footballers scored all three goals: two by Brazilian Ricardo Oliveira against the Madrid team, and one by Melli in his own goal.
In other matches, tournament underdog "Numancia" secured a draw with Pamplona's "Osasuna", "Malaga" won 3-1 against San Sebastian's "Real Sociedad" as guests, and "Zaragoza" played a draw of 2-2 with La Coruna's "Deportivo". In a clash of mid-table teams, Santander's "Racing" won 2-1 against "Getafe" at home.
The last round match between "Espanyol" and "Valencia" ended in a 2-2 draw. Despite "Valencia" taking the lead while playing with ten men, "Espanyol" scored an equalizing goal in the last moments of the match. This draw allowed "Espanyol" to stay in the race for a spot in the UEFA Champions League, while "Valencia" only has theoretical chances to play in the prestigious European club tournament next year.
It was already clear that the team in last place in the league was "Numancia", and in this round, "Albacete" also faced the same fate after losing 0-1 to "Villarreal".
Tournament table
Real Zaragoza 2 - 1 Numancia
Real Sociedad 1 - 3 Malaga
Deportivo La Coruna 2 - 2 Sevilla
Real Betis 4 - 3 Atletico Madrid
Racing Santander 2 - 1 Getafe
Espanyol 2 - 2 Valencia
Villarreal 2 - 1 Albacete
Osasuna 2 - 2 Malaga
Sevilla 2 - 1 Real Madrid
Real Mallorca 1 - 0 Barcelona
Top scorers:
24 Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona)
21 Ricardo Oliveira (Real Betis)
20 Ronaldo (Real Madrid) Diego Forlan (Villarreal)
18 Julio Baptista (Sevilla)
16 Juan Riquelme (Villarreal) Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid)
15 David Villa (Real Zaragoza)
14 Maxi Rodriguez (Espanyol)
13 Nihat Kahveci (Real Sociedad)
12 Michael Owen (Real Madrid) Ismael Urzaiz (Athletic Bilbao)
11 Santiago Ezquerro (Athletic Bilbao) Luis Garcia (Real Mallorca) Edu (Real Betis) Albert Luque (Deportivo Coruna) Marco Di Vaio (Valencia) Raul Tamudo (Espanyol) 10 Antonio Pacheco (Albacete)
