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After the weekend matches of the Spanish "La Liga" championship of the 20th round, the two leading clubs in the championship - "Barcelona" and "Real" further strengthened their positions by gaining three points each, while the defending champions "Valencia" suffered defeat in the derby.
"Barca" easily defeated "Racing" from Santander at home, while Madrid's "Real" also won at their stadium against "Mallorca", although the players of the royal club had to score decisive goals only at the end of the match.
"Valencia", which is in third place, are now five points behind "Real", losing to "Villarreal" in a local team derby. Three out of four goals scored in the match were from 11 meters - J.R.Riquelme scored a "hat-trick" for the home team, P.Aimar scored one for the away team, and M.Di Vaio missed one.
Fantastic match took place in Bilbao, where the local "Athletic" won against Pamplona's "Osasuna" in a particularly intense and dramatic Basque derby. Although the guests were leading convincingly with a score of 0-3 for just over an hour, their advantage lasted only four minutes, as F.Yeste scored two goals in a row, later R.Tiko equalized the score, and J.Guerrero scored the winning goal in extra time.
Barcelona's "Espanyol" dropped to fifth place after recognizing the superiority of "Deportivo" from La Coruna, while Sevilla took advantage of the Catalans' failure, climbing to fourth place after a victory away against "Albacete". The sixth position is still held by another Sevilla club "Betis", who left no hopes for the "Numancia" team at home.
"Zaragoza" also suffered a crushing defeat, being demolished by "Getafe" away, while "Malaga" won with a minimum advantage against Madrid's "Atletico", as did "Levante" against San Sebastian's "Real Sociedad".
Round 20 statistics
Tournament standings
- 3 - 0
- 8' [1 - 0] Samuel Eto'o
- 74' [2 - 0] Ronaldinho Gaucho
- 77' [3 - 0] Anderson Luis Deco
- 4 - 3
- 16' [0 - 1] Perez Pablo Garcia
- 48' [0 - 2] Pierre Webo
- 56' [0 - 3] Francisco Punal
- 60' [1 - 3] Francisco Yeste
- 65' [2 - 3] Francisco Yeste
- 84' [3 - 3] Roberto Tiko
- 90' [4 - 3] Julen Guerrero
- 90' Francisco Yeste ("Bilbao") sent off
- 0 - 2
- 36' [0 - 1] Dirnei Renato
- 45' [0 - 2] Ramiro Antonito
- 4 - 0
- 15' [1 - 0] Juan Gutierrez Moreno Juanito
- 24' [2 - 0] Marcos Assuncao
- 45' [3 - 0] Ricardo Oliveira
- 47' [4 - 0] Ricardo Oliveira
- 36' Juan Otxoa ("Numancia") sent off
- 4 - 1
- 9' [1 - 0] Jorge Andrade
- 15' [1 - 1] Camara Fredson
- 20' [2 - 1] Diego Tristan
- 61' [3 - 1] Diego Tristan (pen.)
- 80' [4 - 1] Juan Carlos Valeron
- 60' Mauricio Pochettino ("Espanyol") sent off
- 3 - 0
- 12' [1 - 0] Jorge Yordi
- 14' [2 - 0] Victoriano Nano
- 35' [3 - 0] Gutierrez Mario Cotelo
- 2 - 1
- 4' [1 - 0] Ignacio Nacho
- 47' [2 - 0] Edwin Congo
- 53' [3 - 0] Nihat Kahveci
- 3 - 1
- 17' [1 - 0] Juan Riquelme (pen.)
- 45' [2 - 0] Juan Riquelme
- 90' [2 - 1] Pablo Aimar (pen.)
- 90' [3 - 1] Juan Riquelme (pen.)
- 90' Gonzalo Rodriguez ("Villarreal") sent off
- 1 - 0
- 81' [1 - 0] Antonio Juan Rodriguez
- 3 - 1
- 35' [1 - 0] Luis Figo (pen.)
- 41' [1 - 1] Alejandro Campano
- 80' [2 - 1] Walter Samuel
- 89' [3 - 1] Santiago Solari
- 65' Mark Iuliano ("Mallorca") sent off
