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On Sunday, the "Barcelona" football players celebrated a crushing 3-0 victory against "Mallorca" and increased their lead in the Spanish championship over "Valencia," who are in second place, to twelve points.
In the match held in Mallorca, the Catalans, without their attacking leader S.Eto'o, completely dominated against the local "Mallorca" and took the lead in the 39th minute when Frenchman Ludovicas Giuly scored after a pass from Deco from the center of the penalty area. The hero of the match was the young prodigy Lionel Messi - after coming on in the 73rd minute, the Argentine scored just three minutes later, receiving a pass from Sylvinho from the left side and sending the ball into the bottom corner of the goal. Just ten minutes later, the 18-year-old converted another goal extremely impressively, sending the ball into the far corner of the goal after Ronaldinho's pass.
Further struggles continued for a long time for everyone watching the match of Pamplona's "Osasuna" team - on Sunday, in the 21st round of the Spanish championship, they unexpectedly lost 0-2 at home to Seville's "Betis," who are at the bottom of the table.
On Sunday, there were also more unexpected results: "Sevilla" won 2-0 at home against "Villarreal," who reached the Champions League quarterfinals, "Valencia" snatched a draw at the end of the match against "Zaragoza," and the tournament's underdog, Vitoria's "Alaves," defeated "Real Sociedad" 3-1.
After two matches of disqualification, the coach Javier Aguirre was back on the pitch with "Osasuna," but he could not rely on even five main squad players. The visitors took the lead in the 33rd minute when Luis Fernandez scored with a shot from outside the penalty area. Although "Osasuna" players had territorial advantage and attacked more in this match, "Betis" doubled the score in the 60th minute - after a successful penalty by Joaquin from the right side of the attack, defender Edu scored with a header from the center of the penalty area.
The other team from Seville also performed excellently this round. "Sevilla" completely dominated at home against "Villarreal," who clearly lacked their injured leader Juan Roman Riquelme. The hosts took the lead in the middle of the first half when Brazilian Luis Fabiano scored after a pass from Daniel Alves from the center of the penalty area, and in the second half, Frederic Kanoute doubled the lead after a pass from Jesus Navas. "Villarreal" played the entire second half without their defender Josico, who received a second yellow card for disputes with the referee at the end of the first half.
"Valencia" managed to turn their dominance in the match against "Zaragoza" into a draw. At the beginning of the match, both teams exchanged dangerous attacks, and in the 33rd minute, Pablo Aimar's shot hit the crossbar. Although "Barcelona" defeated "Zaragoza" 4-2 in the King's Cup in the middle of the week, halting their winning streak, "Zaragoza" took the lead at the end of the first half through Sergio Garcia.
In the second half, Valencia players seemed unsettled, and the visitors took advantage by creating several dangerous opportunities, and Ewerthon doubled the lead after Sergio Garcia's pass. The scene on the pitch changed completely after David Generelo received his second yellow card until less than 10 minutes left in the match. Shortly after a brilliant play by P. Aimar and Miguel Angel Angulo from outside the penalty area, the Dutchman Patrick Kluivert scored, and Valencia almost equalized shortly after, but "Zaragoza" goalkeeper Cesar played excellently. However, the hosts managed to secure a draw - in one of the last attacks, Pablo Aimar scored after a great pass from P. Kluivert.
The failures of their rivals were exploited by Madrid's "Real," who rose to third place in the table. The royal club won 2-1 away against Vigo's "Celta." The visitors took the lead in the 17th minute when the young Brazilian Robinho scored after a pass from Julio Baptista. However, the hosts managed to equalize - after a cross from Lopez Angel, Matias Lequi scored with a header.
Nevertheless, "Real" managed to turn their territorial advantage into victory - in the 60th minute, Robinho scored after a quick counterattack from the center of the penalty area. His shot was blocked by "Celta" goalkeeper Jose Pinto, but the ball bounced directly to the free Cicinho, the new "Real" defender, who successfully scored from just a couple of meters. Although "Celta" had several opportunities to equalize until the end of the match, they were unsuccessful.
Barcelona's "Espanyol" and Vitoria's "Alaves" clubs secured victories by the same score of 3-1, both leading 3-0 and later allowing the visitors to reduce the lead. However, in Vitoria, "Real Sociedad" managed to do this only in the final minutes of the match when the newcomer, young Slovenian defender Dalibor Stevanovic, scored.
Sunday Statistics
Pamplona 0 - 2 Seville
33' [0 - 1] Luis Fernandez
60' [0 - 2] Edu
Barcelona 3 - 1 Mallorca
10' [1 - 0] Raul Tamudo
21' [2 - 0] Raul Tamudo
32' [3 - 0] Luis Garcia
40' [3 - 1] Alexis
Seville 2 - 0 Villarreal
30' [1 - 0] Luis Fabiano
58' [2 - 0] Frederic Kanoute
Villarreal
45' sent off: Josico
Valencia 2 - 2 Zaragoza
45' [0 - 1] Sergio Garcia
64' [0 - 2] Ewerthon
83' [1 - 2] Patrick Kluivert
89' [2 - 2] Pablo Aimar
Zaragoza
82' sent off: David Generelo
Vitoria 3 - 1 San Sebastian
34' [1 - 0] Santiago Carpintero
58' [2 - 0] John Aloisi
86' [3 - 0] John Aloisi
90' [3 - 1] Dalibor Stevanovic
Mallorca 0 - 3 Barcelona
39' [0 - 1] Ludovic Giuly
76' [0 - 2] Lionel Messi
82' [0 - 3] Lionel Messi
Vigo 1 - 2 Madrid
17' [0 - 1] Robinho
40' [1 - 1] Matias Lequi
57' [1 - 2] Cicinho
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
5-7. Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal) - 9 goals
5-7. Ronaldo (Real) - 9 goals
5-7. Diego Milito (Zaragoza) - 9 goals
