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The leader of the Spanish championship "Barcelona" lost its aura of power after the 18th round match on Sunday and suffered a crushing defeat, allowing the two pursuers "Real" and "Valencia" teams to reduce the advantage to seven points.
The second defeat of the season forced the Catalan team to suffer at the hands of the "Villarreal" club, inspired at home by the excellent play of J.R.Riquelme, borrowed from "Barca", they crushed the opponents with a score of 3-0. Uruguayan D.Forlan scored two goals for the winners.
Seizing the opportunity, the eternal rival of "Barcelona" Madrid's "Real" defeated "Atletico" in the derby of the Spanish capital - Brazilian Ronaldo scored twice, while former "Atletico" player S.Solari scored once.
Former team did not give peace to A.Luque, who scored twice against the local club in Mallorca, helping "Deportivo" to achieve a draw. The fourth place was secured by the footballers of "Espanyol", despite conceding one goal in the beginning of the match, later scoring four and celebrating a victory against "Osasuna".
Due to the failure of "Osasuna", sixth place was saved by Seville's "Betis", who lost to the "Zaragoza" team away. "Albacete" achieved their fourth victory of the season by unexpectedly beating "Real Sociedad" away, while the nervous battle of the outsiders in Santander between the local "Racing" and "Malaga" teams ended with a victory for the hosts and three red cards.
Tournament table
Sunday's match statistics
2 - 1
26' [1 - 0] Francisco Javi Guerrero
40' [2 - 0] Mario Regueiro
85' [2 - 1] Gonzalez Cesar Navas
90' Mehdi Nafti ("Racing"), Ruano Alexis, Lozano Miguel Angel (both - "Malaga") sent off the field
2 - 2
50' [0 - 1] Alberto Luque
56' [1 - 1] Fernandez Luis Garcia
61' [1 - 2] Alberto Luque
63' [2 - 2] Yoshito Okubo
0 - 2
6' [0 - 1] Antonio Pacheco
48' [0 - 2] Antonio Pacheco
4 - 1
16' [0 - 1] Pierre Webo
32' [1 - 1] Maxi Rodriguez
36' [2 - 1] Camara Fredson
40' [3 - 1] Ivan De la Pena
83' [4 - 1] Camara Fredson
1 - 0
44' [1 - 0] Bortolini Savio
0 - 3
14' [0 - 1] Ronaldo
81' [0 - 2] Santiago Solari
83' [0 - 3] Ronaldo
3 - 0
30' [1 - 0] Diego Forlan
47' [2 - 0] Gonzalo Rodriguez
85' [3 - 0] Diego Forlan
