On Saturday in Spain, three matches of the 28th round were played. The league leaders "Barcelona" footballers convincingly won another victory, defeating San Sebastian's "Real Sociedad" 0-2 away. After this victory, the league leaders temporarily increased their lead over the second-placed "Real" to 12 points.
In the match at the "Anoeta" stadium, the visitors took the lead just eight minutes into the game, when Swedish player Henrik Larsson found himself free in front of the goal after a pass from Ronaldinho. Brazilian Ronaldinho, voted the best player in the world, also contributed significantly to the second goal for "Real Sociedad", scored at the beginning of the second half: after the Brazilian's pass into the goal, Mark van Bommel struck, but the ball rebounded off the post, and Cameroon national team striker Samuel Eto'o, who was the first to reach the ball, scored his 20th goal in the Spanish championship this season. It's worth mentioning that "Real Sociedad" also had several great opportunities to score: "Barcelona" goalkeeper Victor Valdes made great saves several times, and once a shot from about 30 meters by a "Real Sociedad" player rebounded off the post.
However, this victory was somewhat marred by the injuries suffered by Brazilian Edmilson and Mexican Rafael Marquez.
In other Saturday matches, La Coruña's "Deportivo" won an important victory against Madrid's "Getafe" by a score of 1-2 away. The "Deportivo" footballers, who were eliminated from the King's Cup midweek by the "Espanyol" club, took the lead in the 30th minute of the game when Victor scored after a penalty shot by Joao Capdevila was saved by "Getafe" goalkeeper Luis Garcia.
In the second half, the home team equalized the score when Sergio Pachon scored after a pass from Jaime Gavilán, but soon after, "Deportivo" scored the winning goal: Xisco headed in a goal from the penalty area.
The last Saturday match between "Villarreal" and Madrid's "Atletico" ended in a draw. "Villarreal", playing in this match without their suspended leader Juan Roman Riquelme, took the lead when Uruguayan Diego Forlan scored in the tenth minute after a pass from Jose Mari from the right flank, but the visitors equalized in the second half when "Atletico" attacker Fernando Torres scored with his head after a pass from Peter Luccin. Serbian Mateja Kezman was sent off the field before the end of the match, but it did not affect the result of the game.
Saturday's match statistics:
San Sebastian 0 - 2 8' [0 - 1] Henrik Larsson 51' [0 - 2] Samuel Eto'o
Madrid 1 - 2 La Coruña 30' [0 - 1] Victor 57' [1 - 1] Valentin Pachon 67' [1 - 2] Xisco
66' Gavilan ("Getafe") was sent off the field
1 - 1 Madrid 10' [1 - 0] Diego Forlan 58' [1 - 1] Fernando Torres
Tournament Table