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Defending champions "Barcelona" are not slowing down and after securing their 17th consecutive victory, they have opened up a seven-point lead from second-placed "Osasuna" in La Liga.
The start of the match at the Nou Camp stadium against Bilbao "Athletic" did not promise anything good as the visitors took the lead in the 16th minute after a goal by Fernando Llorente. However, as the first half was coming to an end, a penalty awarded for handball was successfully converted by the active Brazilian Ronaldinho, and at the beginning of the second half, the home team scored a winning goal with a strike by the young Argentine Lionel Messi, who was the first to react to the rebound from goalkeeper I. Lafuentes.
At the end of the match, a red card was shown to Portuguese player Deco, as the referee deemed his altercation with an opponent worthy of a sending off, which almost escalated into a scuffle between both teams.
In unexpected losses, both "Villarreal" and La Coruna's "Deportivo" suffered defeats in the fight for UEFA Champions League spots, but the latter's defeat was more painful: "Deportivo" lost 0-2 at home to bottom-placed Vitoria's "Alaves".
On the other hand, "Villarreal", who qualified for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, lost narrowly to "Racing" in Santander. In a highly contested match, where three players were sent off, the only goal was scored in the 21st minute by Matabuena. Despite good chances for an equalizer before halftime, "Villarreal's" leader Juan Roman Riquelme failed to convert a penalty from eleven meters.
Real Madrid ended the first round of matches in Madrid by defeating "Sevilla" 4-2 and moving up to fourth place in the league table. The hero of the match was Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, who scored a hat-trick and provided an assist.
Real Madrid took the lead in the seventh minute after a pass from Zidane led to a goal by Guti. In the middle of the first half, Brazilian signing Cicinho, who entered the starting lineup due to an injury to M. Salgado, almost doubled the lead with an impressive shot from the right, but the ball bounced off the crossbar.
At the beginning of the second half, the visitors managed to equalize through a goal by Italian Enzo Maresca, rebounded by Iker Casillas directly to Brazilian Luis Fabiano, who sent it into the net without error. However, shortly after a foul against Brazilian Julio Baptista, a penalty was awarded to "Sevilla", which Zidane successfully converted.
After a few minutes, a beautiful backheel pass by Cicinho was picked up by the in-form Guti, who set up Zidane to score. Following this, both teams had shots hitting the goal frames and a great save by I. Casillas, but before the end of the match, "Sevilla" managed to soften the result by scoring a goal when a poorly cleared ball by I. Casillas found its way to Aitor Ocio.
The match ended with Real Madrid confirming their victory in injury time: taking advantage of Sevilla's attempts to equalize, they scored their fourth goal in the final counterattack, with Zidane scoring after a pass from Guti.Sunday's Statistics:
- Real Madrid 4 - 3 Sevilla
- Real Madrid 1 - 1 Vigo
- Malaga 3 - 1 Villareal
- Racing 0 - 2 Villareal
- Vigo 1 - 0 Santander
- La Coruña 0 - 2 Alaves
- San Sebastián 0 - 1 Barcelona
