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On Sunday, the 28th round matches took place in the Spanish championship. The "Valencia" club suffered an unexpected failure in the match against one of the league's mid-table teams, "Racing Santander," and conceded the second position in the tournament table to Madrid's "Real" team, which failed to break the resistance of Seville's "Betis" on their own turf. In the battle for second place, "Osasuna" also joined in by achieving a win away from home, while "Zaragoza" snatched victory in the last minute. The Madrid "Real" club, missing Ronaldo and David Beckham in their starting lineup for these matches, only managed a draw against the "Real Betis" team and lost two valuable points, allowing the "Barcelona" team to further distance themselves. Despite the chaotic performance of the so-called Royal club in the match, the fans turned away at the end of the game, as always assembled in great numbers at the "Santiago Bernabeu" stadium. It seems that after these matches, the Madrid team lost any chance to catch up with their main rivals from Catalonia. Creating nothing particularly dangerous in the first half, the hosts showed some improvement after the break. Soon after, Ronaldo took to the field, replacing the ineffective Raul, but they couldn't break through the well-organized visitor defense. Real Betis goalkeeper Pedro Contreras, who previously represented the "Real" team, had to demonstrate all his skill at the end of the match when he saved a shot from Cicinho. However, the hosts, who played without enthusiasm and fire, were not worthy of three points, and it seems they will have to finish the season without a trophy for the third consecutive time. "Valencia" also failed to get any closer to the leaders, unexpectedly losing away to Santander's "Racing" team. It was the first defeat for the Valencia club after an impressive streak of 16 unbeaten matches. However, it is worth mentioning that for the fourth consecutive game, the team led by coach Quique Sanchez Flores failed to secure a win. The first goal of the match was scored by Damia Abella, rented by the "Barcelona" club, who coolly defeated Santiago Canizares in the 17th minute. In the middle of the second half, Ayoze doubled the lead with a powerful left-footed shot from about 25 meters into the bottom corner of the goal. The visitors regained hope of at least securing a point in the 75th minute when Spanish national team player David Villa headed in his own poorly taken penalty. However, there was no more time for Valencia, and now they trail the championship leaders by an almost unreachable 12 points. "Osasuna" further strengthened their position in the fight for a place in next year's Champions League with an impressive 4-2 away win against the "Espanyol" club. Although the hosts managed to take the lead in the 20th minute after a precise penalty from Raul Tamudo, one of the biggest surprises of this season, the "Osasuna" team gained even more confidence in their abilities after managing to defeat "Barcelona" last week, scored three unanswered goals before half-time. First, David Lopez equalized in the 24th minute, then Pierre put the visitors ahead in the 37th minute, and a minute later Savo Milosevic increased the lead. Although "Espanyol" managed to soften the gap in the second half after a beautiful goal from Luis Garcia, with 10 minutes remaining in the match, the visitors' goalkeeper Inaki Munoz managed to respond. "Osasuna," guided by Gregorio Manzano, continues to show improved performance. In this round, they earned a crucial point away from home by holding firm against the always powerful "Sevilla" team. In the 35th minute, after a beautiful combination between Jesus Navas and Javier Saviolo, the latter managed to score and "Sevilla" led for a long time. However, in the 70th minute, the Japanese Yoshito Okubo spoiled the celebration for the hosts, taking advantage of the not very confident defending. "Malaga" further diminished their chances of staying in "La Liga" when they conceded a painful goal at home in added time against "Zaragoza" and had to admit their opponents' superiority. The two teams from the bottom part of the tournament table, "Cadiz" and "Alaves," played a goalless draw, and both teams shared a point. Sunday Results: Real Madrid 0 - 0 Sevilla Celta Vigo 0 - 1 Athletic Bilbao Table standings
