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On Sunday, the remaining matches of the 20th round of "La Liga" were already played in Spain. "Valencia," who won a convincing 2-0 victory against "Betis," took advantage of "Osasuna's" loss to "Villarreal" and rose to second place in the tournament table. Meanwhile, league leaders "Barcelona" secured their 18th consecutive victory and increased their lead to ten points. "Valencia," showing good form, scored both goals through Spanish national team striker David Villa: the Spaniard scored the first goal by taking advantage of a defender's mistake in the first half, and doubled the result with a shot into the far corner at the end of the second half. This victory allowed the Valencia team to move up to second place in the tournament table. Meanwhile, Pamplona's "Osasuna," who had been in second place until then, lost 2-1 to "Villarreal" players as visitors. Although the visitors took the lead after a goal by young Raul Garcia in the middle of the first half, two controversial penalty kicks from eleven meters, successfully converted by Juan Roman Riquelme, allowed "Villarreal" to celebrate the victory. Taking advantage of this defeat and having won the 18th consecutive victory, Barcelona players increased their lead to ten points. Playing without Samuel Eto'o, who was participating in the Africa Cup of Nations, and suspended midfielder Deco, Barcelona defeated the tournament's underdogs, Vitoria's "Alaves," 2-0 at home. The hosts took the lead in the beginning of the second half with a goal by Sweden's national team striker Henrik Larsson, and at the end of the match, Argentine Lionel Messi doubled the result. Barcelona's victory could have been much larger: in the sixth minute, a shot by Brazilian Ronaldinho hit the crossbar, and just before halftime, Ludovico Giuly's shot hit the bar. In the second half, a penalty kick from eleven meters was awarded against Andres Iniesta, which the "Player of the Year" Ronaldinho surprisingly missed. Later, L.Giuly hit the goal frame twice more. The most impressive victory on Sunday was achieved by Bernd Schuster's coached "Getafe," who thrashed Barcelona's "Espanyol" team 5-0 in Madrid. Daniel Gueiza and Mariano Pernia both scored two goals for the hosts. The second goal by Pernia was a fantastic penalty kick from about 35 meters, undoubtedly a contender for the goal of the season. In an unexpected turn, Deportivo's footballers from La Coruña had to settle for a draw at home against Mallorca, despite leading 2-0 after 26 minutes. It was even more disappointing news for Deportivo and Spanish national team fans that Juan Carlos Valeron suffered an injury. The 30-year-old defender tore his left knee cruciate ligaments during the match, and this injury might cause him to miss the World Cup in Germany this summer. The last round of matches ended with an intriguing clash between Basque clubs Real Sociedad from San Sebastián and Athletic Bilbao, resulting in a high-scoring draw. Real Sociedad took the lead in the first half through Turk Nihat Kahveci, who refused to move to Moscow's "Spartak" and stayed in San Sebastián until the end of the season, but in the second half, striker Aritz Aduriz responded with two precise shots. However, just a minute later, the visitors took the lead again when new club acquisition Morten Skoubo, who had a fantastic game throughout, scored. But in added time, Athletic Bilbao defender Andoni Iraola equalized the score, allowing his team to secure at least one point. Sunday's Statistics: La Coruña 2 - 2 18` [1 - 0] Juan Carlos Valeron 26` [2 - 0] Diego Tristan 51` [2 - 1] Yoshito Okubo 54` [2 - 2] Juan Arango Madrid 5 - 0 Barcelona 4` [1 - 0] Daniel Guiza 26` [2 - 0] Mariano Pernia 65` [3 - 0] Daniel Gueiza 76` [4 - 0] Mariano Pernia 86` [5 - 0] Gavilan 2 - 1 Pamplona 28` [0 - 1] Raul Garcia 70` [1 - 1] Juan Roman Riquelme (11 m.) 77` [2 - 1] Juan Roman Riquelme (11 m.) Seville 0 - 2 35` [0 - 1] David Villa 79` [0 - 2] David Villa 0 - 2 Vigo 46` [0 - 1] Antonio Nunez 69` [0 - 2] Silva 2 - 0 Vitoria 47` [0 - 1] Henrik Larsson 81` [0 - 2] Lionel Messi San Sebastián 3 - 3 7` [1 - 0] Nihat Kahveci 38` [2 - 0] Nihat Kahveci 48` [2 - 1] Aduriz 68` [2 - 2] Aduriz 69` [3 - 2] Morten Skoubo 90` [3 - 3] Andoni Iraola Top Scorers: 1. Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona) - 18 goals; 2. David Villa (Valencia) - 13 goals; 3. Ronaldinho (Barcelona) - 11 goals; 4. Diego Tristan (Deportivo) - 10 goals. Tournament Table
