Round 18: "Real" and "Valencia" crush "Barça" © EuroFootball.com

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