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On Sunday, what had been clear for quite some time happened - the first team dropped to the lower Spanish league. This was revealed after playing the matches of the 36th round. Meanwhile, almost clear are the other teams that will likely have to leave "La Liga": on Sunday, Bilbao Athletic and Levante won their matches, increasing the gap to the seventeenth place to four points with two rounds to go, so Celta and Real Sociedad can only hope for a miracle.
The latter team can only blame themselves, as on Sunday they could have kept their hopes of staying in the top league alive if they had beaten Osasuna in Pamplona, but they lost this important match 0-2.
Meanwhile, in a very controversial manner, Celta Vigo won their match: playing at home against Betis Seville, they fell behind 0-1 from the middle of the first half, but before the end of the first half they managed to equalize, and just before the break, the referee sent off Betis' defender Capi from the field. Despite having a numerical advantage, Celta failed to score a goal, until finally a penalty was awarded in the fifth minute of extra time of the match, which Fernando Baiano successfully converted for Betis.
On the other side of the league table, Sevilla remained in the fight for the title by winning a very important match against Zaragoza 3-1 on Sunday. The hosts took the lead after a goal from Brazil's Luis Fabiano, but Frederic Kanoute missed a penalty kick, and with just over 15 minutes left to play, Andres D'Alessandro equalized. However, before the end of the match, Sevilla scored two goals, with Alexander Kerzhakov and F. Kanoute finding the back of the net. Zaragoza defender Carlos Diogo was sent off from the field during extra time.
With all the leaders of the league trio being defeated in the 36th round, the situation in the title race remains unchanged: Real continues to lead, Barcelona is in second place due to a worse head-to-head record with the same points, and Sevilla is two points behind these teams.
36th round results:
- Athletic Bilbao 1 - 0 Mallorca 64' [1 - 0] Ismael Urzaiz (pen.)
- Celta Vigo 2 - 1 Betis Sevilla 30' [0 - 1] Robert 42' [1 - 1] Gustavo Lopez 90+5' [2 - 1] Fernando Baiano (pen.)
Red card: Capi ("Betis") in the 45th minute.
- Osasuna 2 - 0 Real Sociedad 26' [1 - 0] David Lopez 33' [2 - 0] Javad Nekounam
- Racing Santander 2 - 3 Levante Valencia 12' [0 - 1] Djah Felix Ettien 33' [1 - 1] Nikola Zigic 38' [1 - 2] Riga Mustapha 73' [1 - 3] Riga Mustapha 78' [2 - 3] Felipe Melo
- Recreativo Huelva 0 - 1 Espanyol Barcelona 82' [0 - 1] Raul Tamudo
Red card: Juan Merino ("Recreativo") in the 76th minute.
- Gimnastic Tarragona 0 - 2 Atletico Madrid 11' [0 - 1] Fernando Torres 54' [0 - 2] Fernando Torres (pen.)
Red card: Ariza Makukula in the 90th minute.
- Sevilla 3 - 1 Zaragoza 27' [1 - 0] Luis Fabiano 74' [1 - 1] Andres D'Alessandro 83' [2 - 1] Alexander Kerzhakov 90+4' [3 - 1] Frederic Kanoute
Red card: Carlos Diogo ("Zaragoza") in the 90+1st minute.
Top scorers:
1. Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real) - 23 goals 2. Frederic Kanoute (Sevilla) - 21 3-4. Diego Milito (Zaragoza) - 20 3-4. Ronaldinho (Barcelona) - 20 5. Diego Forlan (Villarreal) - 17 6. David Villa (Valencia) - 15 7. Fernando Torres (Atletico) - 14 8. Fernando Baiano (Celta) - 13
