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On Saturday there were four matches of the 31st La Liga championship. In these matches, the hosts' teams were more generous than ever, only earning 2 points and giving two wins to the guests. Perhaps the most displeased were the fans of the "royal club", who booed their team's players at the "Santiago Bernabeu" stadium after the match ended in a 1-1 draw with the 18th-placed "Real Sociedad". Despite the fact that the Basque club's results away from home this season are the worst in La Liga, they started the match against "Real" very determinedly and had a gameplay advantage at the start of the first half, threatening the hosts' defense several times. However, it was the "Real" players who managed to score first: after Zinedine Zidane's well-executed penalty, Ronaldo tapped the ball into the net with one touch. By the way, this was his 100th goal playing for the Madrid team. Five minutes later, the Brazilian could have added to his and his team's goal tally even more, but his shot hit the crossbar, and the second attempt towards the empty goal was even more unsuccessful- the ball went well over the goal. However, the visitors were not happy with the result either, as they almost managed to restore balance in the match at the end of the first half, when Chilean Marko Gonzalez's dangerous penalty kick was barely blocked by Iker Casillas. In fact, it was the goalkeeper's mistake that helped the Basque team level the score. In the 62nd minute, the "Real" goalkeeper failed to catch a completely harmless pass from Mikel Alonso from the flank and Gonzalez took advantage of his mistake right away. The problems didn't end there for the Madrid club, as Ronaldo soon suffered an injury and had to be replaced by Antonio Cassano. "Real" tried to fight back, mostly thanks to Robinho creating several opportunities, but the team lacked accuracy in their attacks. After the 87th minute when the hosts' defender Guti received his second yellow card, the result of the match was almost decided. After the final whistle, the "royal club" players left the field with their heads down, while the "Real Sociedad" players celebrated the well-deserved point they earned, which would be very useful in the fierce battle for survival in La Liga. "Valencia" took advantage of "Real's" stumble, defeating Vigo's "Celta" 1-0 on the road and finally getting back on the path of victory. Valencia's striker Miguel Angel Angulo scored the only goal of the match in the 29th minute, redirecting the ball into the hosts' net after a great pass from Mario Regueiro. "Celta", occupying the sixth place, wanted to equalize the score and troubled the visitors' goalkeeper Santiago Canizares several times. However, the hosts' attempts did not reach their goal, and after the break, "Valencia" dominated the field and their most productive player David Villa almost disarmed "Celta's" goalkeeper Jose Pinto in one episode. After this victory, "Valencia" surpassed the "Real" team in terms of points and due to a better head-to-head balance, rose to second place. In the other two matches on Saturday, both "Cadiz" and "Malaga" teams needed victories to solidify their position in the fight for survival in La Liga, but none of them managed to secure three points. "Cadiz" played at home against "Real Betis" players who were demonstrating better and better gameplay as the season progressed, and were very close to a victory after the referee awarded a controversial penalty in the 68th minute, which was successfully converted by Argentine Lucas Lobos, putting his team ahead. However, the hosts failed to maintain the fragile lead, as a minute before the end of the match, Spain's national team player Joaquin equalized the score with a precise header from a Marcos Assuncao penalty kick. Even more unsuccessfully, the match unfolded for the "Malaga" team, who are in the last place and lost 1-2 at home to "Getafe". Both goals for the visitors were scored by Veljko Paunovic. "Malaga" forward Pablo Counago managed to equalize in the 50th minute, but the "Getafe" players took advantage of a one-man advantage and secured the victory in just 5 minutes. The winning goal for the visitors was only scored in stoppage time. Today the remaining six matches of the 31st round will take place. League leaders "Barcelona" will travel to Santander, where a victory against "Racing" would increase their lead over "Valencia" and "Real" to 13 points. The matches between "Villarreal", who reached the Champions League semi-finals, and the "Deportivo" players, who have not shown such good results this season, should also be intriguing.
