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On Sunday evening, the match between "Barcelona" and "Valencia" ended the 4th round of the Spanish championship. The match at the "Nou Camp" stadium ended in a 1-1 draw, but both teams remained the leaders of the Spanish championship along with "Real" as "Sevilla" lost to Madrid's "Atletico" as visitors.
The main match of the round took place at the "Nou Camp" stadium in front of 75 thousand spectators. "Valencia" started the match actively against "Barcelona", attacked a lot, and after a little more than fifteen minutes, following a pass from the team's newcomer Joaquin from the center to the right side, Miguel successfully crossed the ball into the penalty area, where "Valencia's" attacking leader David Villa found himself, falling while beating Victor Valdes.
It was D. Villa who could have doubled the score at the end of the first half, but his shot towards V. Valdes hit the post.
During the halftime break, "Barcelona" coach Frank Rijkaard substituted Brazilian Edmilson with Andres Iniesta. This change turned out to be crucial as just four minutes into the second half, Ronaldinho lifted the ball into the penalty area, where Samuel Eto'o headed the ball to Iniesta, who scored a goal past Santiago Canizares.
It was S. Canizares who could be considered one of the best players of the match, as it was only thanks to him that "Valencia" managed to secure a draw. In the second half of the match, it seemed that there was only one team on the field - "Barcelona", and only the fantastic performance of S. Canizares prevented the European champions from celebrating victory.
D. Villa became the player who scored the last four goals against "Barcelona". Last season, he scored twice at the "Nou Camp" stadium in a 2-2 draw, and later scored the only goal of the match at the "Mestalla" stadium.
The 12-match winning streak in all competitions for "Sevilla" was ended by summer spending Madrid's "Atletico", who celebrated a 2-1 victory at home thanks to two goals from Argentine national team defender Maxi Rodriguez.
"Sevilla" took the lead after the first-half goal by Brazilian Renato, but the course of the match was significantly changed by the expulsion of defenders Julien Escude and Javi Navarro in the second half. This allowed M. Rodriguez to score two goals in the last ten minutes: first, he beat the goalkeeper with a long-range shot from about 20 meters, and then scored from close range after a great play by Fernando Torres.
The first points were won by Santander's "Racing", who played to a 2-2 draw away against Tarragona's "Gimnastic". This was made possible by two great goals by Serbia national team giant Nikola Zigic in the second half.
"Mallorca" celebrated their first win of the season with a minimal result, defeating Barcelona's "Espanyol" at home. The only goal of the match, at the end of the game after a pass from Diego Tristan's strike, was scored by former "Barcelona" striker Maxi Lopez.
Huelva's "Recreativo" celebrated a dramatic victory away against San Sebastian's "Real Sociedad". Just when it seemed that the match would end in a 2-2 draw, the team's newcomer Florent Sinama-Pongolle scored the winning goal in the fourth minute of added time.
Last season's UEFA Champions League semifinalists "Villarreal" also secured their first victory of the season. While "Zaragoza" took the lead after a goal by their newcomer Pablo Aimar, "Villarreal" equalized in the middle of the first half through Cani and then took the lead in the middle of the second half with a goal by Uruguayan Diego Forlan.
The victory of the "Yellow Submarine" was secured in the 80th minute by recently retired from the Argentina national team, Juan Roman Riquelme, who scored a penalty awarded for handball by Gabriel Milito, with defender Gerard Pique only softening the result in stoppage time with a goal.
Statistics
"Barcelona" 1 - 1 "Valencia"
17` [0 - 1] David Villa
49` [1 - 1] Andres Iniesta
Vigo "Celta" 0 - 2 Pamplona "Osasuna"
35` [0 - 1] Valdo
90` [0 - 2] JuanFran
74` Angel was sent off ("Celta")
Madrid "Getafe" 0 - 0 "Athletic Bilbao"
42` Aduriz was sent off ("Athletic Bilbao")
51` Cosmin Contra was sent off ("Getafe")
85` Ander Murillo was sent off ("Athletic Bilbao")
Tarragona "Gimnastic" 2 - 2 "Racing Santander"
37` [1 - 0] David Cuellar
48` [1 - 1] Nikola Zigic
66` [2 - 1] Javier Portillo
90` [2 - 2] Nikola Zigic
Valencia "Levante" 2 - 0 La Coruna "Deportivo"
18` [1 - 0] Olivier Kapo
76` [2 - 0] Olivier Kapo
52` Mathieu Berson was sent off ("Levante")
80` Fabian Estoyanoff was sent off ("Deportivo")
"Mallorca" 1 - 0 Barcelona "Espanyol"
77` [1 - 0] Maxi Lopez
79` Albert Riera was sent off ("Espanyol")
San Sebastian "Real Sociedad" 2 - 3 Huelva "Recreativo"
39` [0 - 1] Calle
49` [0 - 2] Calle
65` [1 - 2] Gari Uranga
76` [2 - 2] Alvaro Novo (pen.)
90` [2 - 3] Florent Sinama Pongolle
"Villarreal" 3 - 2 "Zaragoza"
23` [0 - 1] Pablo Aimar
49` [1 - 1] Cani
60` [2 - 1] Diego Forlan
80` [3 - 1] Juan Roman Riquelme (pen.)
90` [3 - 2] Gerard Pique
78` Gabriel Milito was sent off ("Zaragoza")
Madrid "Atletico" 2 - 1 "Sevilla"
40` [0 - 1] Renato
85` [1 - 1] Maxi Rodriguez
89` [2 - 1] Maxi Rodriguez
47` Julien Escude was sent off ("Sevilla")
66` Javi Navaro was sent off ("Sevilla")
Top Goal Scorers
1-2. Frederic Kanoute (Sevilla) - 4 goals;
1-2. Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona) - 4 goals;
3-6. Maxi Rodriguez (Atletico) - 3 goals;
3-6. Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real) - 3 goals;
3-6. Renato (Sevilla) - 3 goals;
3-6. Kepa (Sevilla) - 3 goals.
Standings
