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On Sunday, the second round of the "La Liga" matches was played in Spain. An impressive victory was achieved by Madrid's "Real" as they beat Valencia's "Levante" 1-4 as visitors. Impressive victories were also achieved by Seville's "Betis", "Zaragoza" and "Sevilla" teams, while Huelva's "Recreativo" provided perhaps the biggest sensation of the round, beating "Villarreal" with a minimal margin.
The Royal club in Valencia could have taken the lead as early as the seventh minute of the match, but after Antonio Cassano's pass, "Real" captain Raul's shot went too high. However, the visitors took the lead in the 16th minute of the match when Dutch national team forward Ruud van Nistelrooy opened the scoring after successfully stopping the ball sent to him by the team's newcomer Mahamadou Diarra.
Ten minutes later, A.Cassano doubled the lead when the ball bounced off the opponent's defender after a pass from David Beckham from the right flank. A few minutes later, "Levante's" situation worsened when French defender Frederic Dehu was sent off the field for a foul against R.van Nistelrooy.
However, "Levante," coached by former "Real" strategist Juan Ramonas Lopez Caro, was awakened by this red card, and Felix Ettien softened the result.
In the second half, after playing just over ten minutes, "Real" newcomer Jose Antonio Reyes noticed the free space near the far post where D.Beckham was, who headed the ball to R.van Nistelrooy, who successfully stopped the ball with his chest and restored the two-goal advantage.
"Levante's" situation turned tragic less than ten minutes before the end of the match when in the penalty area, Diego Camacho fouled R.van Nistelrooy. It was this Dutchman who was allowed to score a "hat-trick" from the 11-meter spot, but his unsuccessful attempt was saved by P.Cavallero.
However, the Dutchman managed to score a "hat-trick" at the end of the match itself when he passed the ball past the opponent's goalkeeper who ran out of the goal after a pass from Cicinho from the right flank.
On Sunday, the second-round victories were also achieved by Madrid's "Getafe," who won at home with a minimal result against Santander's "Racing," and "Sevilla," who won 3-1 away against San Sebastian's "Real Sociedad" and became the leader of the Spanish championship due to a better goal ratio.
The match in Mallorca ended unexpectedly, where La Coruna's "Deportivo" could not defeat the Mallorca players and had to settle for a draw.
The biggest surprise of this round was the defeat of "Villarreal," which was secured by a former player of the "Yellow Submarines." This summer, 21-year-old Spaniard Santi Cazorla, who was sold to Huelva's "Recreativo," scored the only goal of the match less than ten minutes before the end, securing the first victory of the season for the "Recreativo" players who returned to the highest Spanish league after a long break.
In the last round of matches where the teams that did not win any points in the first round competed, "Zaragoza" celebrated a crushing victory by beating Barcelona's "Espanyol" players 3-0. Although the hosts were left with ten men in the middle of the first half when Leonardo Ponzio received a red card, five minutes later, the team's newcomer, Argentine national team defender Pablo Aimar, put them ahead.
In the second half, the teams' strengths equalized when "Espanyol" defender Eduardo Costa was sent off the field, and taking advantage of this, "Zaragoza" secured their victory at the end of the match: Diego Milito scored in the 82nd minute, and a minute later, Oscar scored the third goal.
Statistics
Madrid's "Getafe" 1 - 0 "Racing Santander" 60' [1 - 0] Daniel Gueiza
Tarragona's "Gimnastic" 1 - 2 Vigo's "Celta" 49' [0 - 1] Fernando Baiano 68' [1 - 1] Javier Portillo 75' [1 - 2] Nene
Valencia's "Levante" 1 - 4 Madrid's "Real" 16' [0 - 1] Ruud van Nistelrooy 27' [0 - 2] Antonio Cassano 36' [1 - 2] Felix Dja Ettien 56' [1 - 3] Ruud van Nistelrooy 90' [1 - 4] Ruud van Nistelrooy
29' Frederic Dehu sent off ("Levante") 84' Diego Camacho sent off ("Levante")
86' R.van Nistelrooy missed a penalty
"Mallorca" 0 - 0 La Coruna's "Deportivo"
Seville's "Betis" 3 - 0 Bilbao's "Athletic" 19' [1 - 0] Juanito 40' [2 - 0] Edu 83' [3 - 0] Capi
San Sebastian's "Real Sociedad" 1 - 3 "Sevilla" 8' [0 - 1] Renato 75' [0 - 2] Frederic Kanoute 89' [0 - 3] Mikel Labaka (own goal) 90' [1 - 3] Diaz De Cerio
"Villarreal" 0 - 1 Huelva's "Recreativo" 82' [0 - 1] Santi Cazorla
"Zaragoza" 3 - 0 Barcelona's "Espanyol" 37' [1 - 0] Pablo Aimar 82' [2 - 0] Diego Milito 83' [3 - 0] Oscar
31' Leonardo Ponzio sent off ("Zaragoza") 68' Eduardo Costa sent off ("Espanyol")
Top scorers 1-3. Ruud van Nistelrooy ("Real") - 3 goals; 1-3. Samuel Eto'o ("Barcelona") - 3; 1-3.
