© EuroFootball.com
During the 30th round of matches of the Spanish championship played on Sunday, there was no shortage of intrigue. Sevilla and Deportivo claimed minimal victories, while the most impressive match took place in Barcelona, where Barcelona secured a draw against Sevilla's Betis. Taking advantage of Barcos' stumble, Madrid's Real reduced the gap to nine points by defeating Albacete 2-1 as visitors.
In the Catalan capital of Barcelona, a real thriller took place. In the 12th minute of the match, after the goal by Spanish national team player Joaquin, the visitors took the lead. However, shortly after defender David Rivas was sent off for a foul in the penalty area on Deco, the most efficient player in the Spanish championship, Samuel Eto'o, successfully converted the awarded penalty from 11 meters. Even though they were down to ten men, Betis did not just defend and at the end of the first half, after Ricardo Oliveiros' strike from the penalty spot, they once again took the lead.
Both teams played attacking football and Barcelona had almost twice as many chances to score, but the result in the second half was very unexpected - after Oliveiros' pass, Joaquin scored the third goal for the visitors. Barcelona did not give up and in the last fifteen minutes of the match managed to equalize. In the 80th minute, there was a penalty kick from 11 meters into Betis' goal for a foul on Edu against Juliano Belletti. The Cameroonian Eto'o successfully converted the second penalty from 11 meters as well. In the last goal of the match, in the fifth minute of added time, Giovanni van Bronkhorst scored after a pass from the Portuguese Deco.
Sunday's Matches
1 - 1 Osasuna
13' [1 - 0] Fernando
32' [1 - 1] Nano
3 - 3 Sevilla
12' [0 - 1] Joaquin
15' [1 - 1] Samuel Eto'o (11-meter penalty)
36' [1 - 2] Ricardo Oliveira
62' [1 - 3] Joaquin
80' [2 - 3] Samuel Eto'o (11-meter penalty)
90' [3 - 3] Giovanni van Bronkhorst
Valencia 0 - 1 La Coruna
40' [0 - 1] Diego Tristan
Racing Santander 1 - 3 Barcelona
13' [0 - 1] Raul Tamudo (11-meter penalty)
34' [1 - 1] Yossi Benayoun
43' [1 - 2] Jarque
49' [1 - 3] Maxi
Real Madrid 4 - 0 Cadiz
27' [1 - 0] Colsa
59' [2 - 0] Fernando Torres (11-meter penalty)
86' [3 - 0] Salva Ballesta
88' [4 - 0] Salva Ballesta
Malaga 1 - 2 Real Madrid
9' [1 - 0] Redondo
14' [1 - 1] Ivan Helguera
45' [1 - 2] Michael Owen
