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On Saturday in Spain, three matches of the 22nd round of "La Liga" took place. The most impressive victory was achieved by the gradually accelerating Madrid "Real" footballers, who at home crushed Barcelona's "Espanyol" team 4-0. However, this victory did not allow the Royal Club to rise to second place, as in other Saturday matches, "Valencia" away retaliated with a 0-1 win against La Coruna's "Deportivo" players who were eliminated from the King's Cup. In the third Saturday match, "Malaga" managed to beat Bilbao's "Athletic" players with a score of 4-0.
In the match at Madrid's "Santiago Bernabeu" stadium, the hosts surged ahead in the 14th minute - after a pass from Robinho from the midfield, David Beckham, who was free on the right side with the ball, crossed it perfectly and Guti was left to direct it into the goal from a couple of meters away.
Although it seemed that the first half would end with a minimal lead for "Real", in the 43rd minute, after a pass from the Brazilian Robinho, Roberto Carlos, who was unmarked on the left side of the penalty area, passed the ball to Zinedine Zidane, whose shot from more than 20 meters left no chance for the substitute "Espanyol" goalkeeper, who was one of the best goalkeepers in "La Liga" participating in the African Cup of Nations, Carlos Kameni.
Already in the second minute of added first half time, the score became devastating - as the "Real" newcomer Cicinho received the ball in his half, outsmarted the "Espanyol" players, found himself unmarked near the penalty area, and excellently 'hung' the ball into the penalty area, where after recovering from an injury, the Brazilian Ronaldo simply directed the ball into the goal with his head.
The utterly defeated "Espanyol" players struggled against the brilliantly playing "Real" players, who added another goal in the second half and celebrated a crushing 4-0 victory: in the 51st minute, Cicinho again, from his own half, outplayed two defenders on the right flank, passed the ball to the in-form Z.Zidane, who sent the ball into the goal from more than 20 meters.
There was a lot of attention on the match in La Coruna, where "Valencia" retaliated against the local "Deportivo" for their elimination from the King's Cup. The only goal of the match was scored in the 22nd minute by the most productive "Valencia" player, Spanish national team striker David Villa, who saw Jose Molina too far out of goal and 'overcame' him.
As emphasized by the Spanish sports newspaper "Marca," after five minutes in came two very controversial decisions by the referee: at first, he awarded a dubious penalty kick for a handball by "Valencia" defender Miguel Albiol. After the first Victor's shot was saved by the visitors' goalkeeper Santiago Canizares, to the amazement of many, the referee ordered to retake the penalty, but S. Canizares again saved Victor's shotted ball.
The new coach Manuel Hierro debuted with a victory at the helm of "Malaga," as his students beat a crisis-stricken Bilbao "Athletic" club 2-1 and climbed out of the bottom of the league table. In the 31st minute, the Portuguese defender Litos headed in a cross from Antonio Hidalgo's penalty kick, but just ten minutes later, in a similar situation, Aritz Aduriz equalized the score.
Although in the middle of the second half "Malaga" midfielder Nacho was shown a second yellow card and sent off the field, the hosts did not falter and soon scored the winning goal - after another A. Hidalgo penalty kick, Salva Ballesta scored with his head.
Saturday Statistics:
Madrid 4 - 0 Barcelona: 14` [1 - 0] Guti 43` [2 - 0] Zinedine Zidane 45` [3 - 0] Ronaldo 51` [4 - 0] Zinedine Zidane
La Coruna 0 - 1 Valencia: 22` [0 - 1] David Villa
Malaga 2 - 1 Bilbao: 31` [1 - 0] Litos 40` [1 - 1] Aritz Aduriz 73` [2 - 1] Salva Ballesta
Top scorers: 1. Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona) - 18 goals; 2. David Villa (Valencia) - 14; 3. Ronaldinho (Barcelona) - 11; 4-5. Diego Tristan (Deportivo) - 10; 4-5. Ronaldo (Real) - 10.
