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In the Spanish championship this season for the first time, the ambitious UEFA Cup winners "Sevilla" football players surged forward. On Sunday, they defeated their opponents and took the first place in the tournament table, taking advantage of the failures of "Real" and "Barcelona". The biggest surprise of Sunday's matches was the defeat of Madrid "Real" at home. The royal club fell behind in the match against Vigo "Celta" in the 35th minute, when Brazilian Nene scored after Fabiano Canobbio's pass from the flank. Although in the beginning of the second half, Emerson from "Real" equalized the score with a header after a corner kick by Raul, with eight minutes left to play until the end of the match, the victory was snatched away by defender Jorge after a pass from Angel. It is worth mentioning that this was the first home loss for coach Fabio Capello during his time at "Real". While "Barcelona" failed to take advantage of "Real" on Saturday, "Sevilla" took full advantage and defeated Pamplona's "Osasuna", who have been showing poor form this season, 2-0. "Sevilla", who have not lost at home this year, surged forward in the beginning of the second half when a penalty was awarded for a foul on Renato before being successfully converted by Mali national team forward Frederic Kanoute. Renato also played a key role in the second goal, providing an assist to Brazilian Adriano Correia. "Real"'s failure was well exploited by the impressively playing "Zaragoza" this season, who defeated the struggling Seville "Betis" players 3-2 in a thriller with five goals, rising to third place in the tournament table. "Valencia" continued to struggle, only managing a 1-1 draw away against Barcelona's "Espanyol". The hosts surged ahead in the middle of the first half when Albert Riera was the first to react after Ivan de la Pena's shot rebounded. "Valencia" managed to equalize at the end of the first half when David Silva sent the ball into the goal guarded by Carlos Kameni. Even though A.Riera received a red card early in the second half, the remaining ten "Espanyol" players held on and secured their fifth draw of the season. Statistics Barcelona's "Espanyol" 1 - 1 "Valencia" 23` [1 - 0] Albert Riera 44` [1 - 1] Silva 53` Albert Riera sent off ("Espanyol") Madrid "Real" 1 - 2 Vigo "Celta" 36` [0 - 1] Nene 43` [1 - 1] Emerson 82` [1 - 2] Jorge Bilbao "Athletic" 0 - 0 "Racing Santander" 40` Igor Gabilondo sent off ("Athletic") "Zaragoza" 3 - 1 Madrid "Getafe" 39` [1 - 0] Carlos Diogo 68` [1 - 1] Manu Del Moral (penalty) 74` [2 - 1] Diego Milito 90` [3 - 1] Ewerthon 11` Ruben Pulido sent off ("Getafe") Huelva "Recreativo" 2 - 1 Tarragona "Gimnastic" 7` [0 - 1] Irurzun 31` [1 - 1] Javi Guerrero 90` [2 - 1] Mario 81` MUgel Angel Llera sent off ("Gimnastic") "Sevilla" 2 - 0 Pamplona "Osasuna" 50` [1 - 0] Frederic Kanoute 88` [2 - 0] Adriano Correia "Villarreal" 3 - 2 Seville "Betis" 4` [0 - 1] Edu 20` [1 - 1] Diego Forlan 47` [1 - 2] Alberto Rivera 57` [2 - 2] Pascal Cygan 59` [3 - 2] Cani Top goal scorers 1-2. Diego Milito ("Zaragoza") - 8 goals; 1-2. Frederic Kanoute ("Sevilla") - 8; 3. Ronaldinho ("Barcelona") - 6; 4. David Villa ("Valencia") - 5.
