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After playing the remaining matches of the 25th round of the Spanish championship ("La Liga") on Sunday, several unexpected results were recorded. Madrid's "Real" club lost to the underdogs "Mallorca" as guests, while second-placed "Valencia" had to settle for a draw against Madrid's "Getafe".
The match in Mallorca started according to the favorable scenario for "Real," when in the middle of the first half, defender Sergio Ramos scored with a header after a penalty kick lifted by D. Beckham from the middle of the penalty area. However, the players of "Mallorca," who had recently changed their coach, fought bravely against the stars of the Royal club, and at the beginning of the second half, their efforts bore fruit - Pisculichi successfully converted a penalty kick awarded for a foul committed by Sergio Ramos against Tuni in the penalty area.
Despite the territorial advantage held by "Real" (37%-63%), in this match, the players of "Mallorca" attacked more, scoring the winning goal in the 83rd minute: after taking the ball from Thomas Gravesen at the center of the field, Greek international defender Angelos Basinas made a great pass to Juan Arango at the end of the attack, who beat Iker Casillas and sent the ball into the net, thus ending the series of six consecutive wins for "Real" in the Spanish championship.
Despite the territorial advantage held by "Valencia" (65%-35%), the dominant play, and the fact that they played against ten opponents from the 65th minute, the team had failed to secure a victory against "Deportivo" in second place. Shaking the crossbar and forcing the opponent's goalkeeper to make a strong save, but only breaking through in the 78th minute when defender David Navarro scored with a header from close range after a pass from Mario Regueiro, the hosts failed to maintain the lead, and after six minutes, allowed an equalizer from the right edge of the penalty area, using a weak pass from David Navarro, which Nano capitalized on.
However, the fourth-placed players from Pamplona's "Osasuna" failed to capitalize on this "Real" defeat, losing 1-2 at home to La Coruna's "Deportivo" players. The hosts took the lead when at the end of the first half, after a pass from David Lopez, Bernardo Romeo scored, but in the second half, Sergio and Diego Tristan helped "Deportivo" secure an important victory.
Playing in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals and suffering a painful defeat away from home, the players of "Sevilla" were crushed 5-0 by Barcelona's "Espanyol." Interestingly, in the previous round, the latter had been defeated 4-0 by "Villarreal" players. A hat-trick was scored in the second half of these matches by Spanish attacking midfielder Luis Garcia.
With a frustrating 1-1 draw against the "Villarreal" team playing in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, the team had to settle for trying to climb from the bottom of the standings against Bilbao's "Athletic." Approaching the end of the first half, the hosts took the lead after a goal from the young Aritz Aduriz, but three minutes later, they lost the lead. However, in the fourth minute of added time, experienced Pablo Orbaiz failed to convert a penalty kick from eleven meters - his attempt was saved by Sebastian Viera.
Seville's "Betis" secured an important victory at home, defeating San Sebastian's "Real Sociedad" 2-0 and moving up to the fourteenth place.
Statistics of the 25th round matches on Sunday
1 - 1 Madrid
78` [1 - 0] David Navarro
85` [1 - 1] Nano
Anibal Matellan ("Getafe") was sent off the field in the 65th minute.
Seville 2 - 0 San Sebastian
32` [1 - 0] Dani
89` [2 - 0] Robert
Vigo 2 - 0
37` [1 - 0] Pedro Contreras
73` [2 - 0] Silva
Barcelona 5 - 0
5` [1 - 0] Fredson
48` [2 - 0] Zabaleta
53` [3 - 0] Luis Garcia
57` [4 - 0] Luis Garcia
76` [5 - 0] Luis Garcia (11 m.)
Javi Navarro ("Sevilla") was sent off the field in the 55th minute.
1 - 1
41` [1 - 0] Aritz Aduriz
44` [1 - 1] Diego Forlan
Vitoria 2 - 2
19` [1 - 0] Nene
26` [1 - 1] Pinilla (11 m.)
34` [2 - 1] John Aloisi
72` [2 - 2] Wilfried Dalmat
2 - 1 Madrid
30` [0 - 1] Sergio Ramos
51` [1 - 1] Pisculichi (11 m.)
83` [2 - 1] Juan Arango
Pamplona 1 - 2 La Coruna
42` [1 - 0] Bernardo Romeo
51` [1 - 1] Sergio
72` [1 - 2] Diego Tristan
Top scorers
1. Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona) - 18 goals;
2. David Villa (Valencia) - 15;
3. Ronaldinho (Barcelona) - 13;
4. Diego Milito (Zaragoza) - 12;
5. Diego Tristan (Deportivo) - 11;
6-7. Fernando Torres (Atletico) - 10;
6-7. Ronaldo (Real) - 10.
League table
