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On Sunday, the remaining matches of the 33rd round of "La Liga" were played in Spain. Recently, the Madrid "Real" footballers, who had been showing poor form as guests, unexpectedly played a 1-1 draw with "Getafe" in the capital derby. Valencia footballers took advantage of this by crushing this week's Spanish Cup winners, Espanyol, 4-0 and solidifying their place in the second position of the tournament table.
The match in Valencia was initiated more actively by the hosts, but they only managed to break through at the end of the first half, when Daniel De Ridder brought down David Villa in the penalty area and the latter successfully converted the eleven-meter penalty awarded by the referee.
Espanyol's situation deteriorated significantly in the second half when defender Eduardo Costa was forced to leave the field after receiving his second yellow card. Shortly after David Villa's penalty kick from the left side, Argentine defender Roberto Ayala headed in a goal against substitute Espanyol goalkeeper Iraizos.
Just four minutes later, the result became overwhelming - just a minute after coming on as a substitute, the most productive player of last season's team, striker Mista, headed the ball into the goal from a cross by David Albelda. It is worth mentioning that this was the first high Spaniard's goal of the season.
Until the end of the regular time, with five minutes remaining, Mista managed to make an assist to Ruben Baraja, who scored the fourth goal of the match with a powerful shot.
Meanwhile, in the match in Madrid, the humble-budgeted Getafe players dominated. Although Julio Baptista, who has been in excellent form recently, hit the goal frame at the start of the match, and a few minutes later Ruben Pulido cleared his shot towards goal from the goal line, Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas performed real miracles, fantastically saving Mario Pernia's penalty kick and Riki's header, and at the end of the first half, managed to defend against Jaime Gavilano's counterattack.
In the second half, both teams somewhat slowed down the pace of the game and as it turned out in the middle of the half, it was more beneficial to the Royal club players - Julio Baptista stopped the ball with his chest in the penalty area and defeated Getafe goalkeeper Luis Garcia. This awakened the home team players and they launched a real assault on the Real goal. Although the guests managed to withstand many offensive waves within the next five minutes, receiving four yellow cards, less than ten minutes before the end of the match even I. Casillas was powerless when Miguel Tena equalized the score with a header after a corner kick.
Although Julio Baptista once again hit the goal frame at the very end of the match, Real failed to secure a victory, so Valencia footballers, who were two points ahead, solidified their second place.
Real failed to take advantage of their misfortune, as the Osasuna footballers from Pamplona only played a draw with the bottom of the tournament table, Malaga team.
In the last match on Sunday, Madrid "Atletico" narrowly defeated "Athletic Bilbao" players at home with a minimal score. The only goal of the match was scored in the 82nd minute by "Atletico" attacking leader Fernando Torres.
Statistics:
Madrid 1 - 1 Madrid
61` [0 - 1] Julio Baptista
84` [1 - 1] Manuel Tena
Pamplona 1 - 1
31` [1 - 0] Francisco Punal (pen.)
80` [1 - 1] Richard Morales
90' Salva removed from the field ("Malaga")
Sevilla 0 - 2 Vigo
18` [0 - 1] Jorge
89` [0 - 2] Jesus Perera
1 - 2
19` [1 - 0] Savio
42` [1 - 1] Lucas Lobos (pen.)
47` [1 - 2] Matias Pavoni
4 - 0 Barcelona
40` [1 - 0] David Villa (pen.)
67` [2 - 0] Roberto Ayala
70` [3 - 0] Mista
86` [4 - 0] Ruben Baraja
58' Eduardo Costa removed from the field ("Espanyol")
Madrid 1 - 0
82` [1 - 0] Fernando Torres
