Round 10: "Barca" returns to the top

2006-11-12 20:24 © EuroFootball.com

On Sunday in the tenth round of the Spanish championship, the championship leader "Sevilla" unexpectedly stumbled away, playing a goalless draw with "Racing Santander", which was quickly taken advantage of by "Barcelona", who defeated "Zaragoza" 3-1 at home and returned to first place. Meanwhile, Madrid's "Real" achieved an impressive victory away from home, crushing Pamplona's "Osasuna" 4-1.

In the match in Santander, the hosts looked significantly better on the field, with the most work among the UEFA Cup winners being done by goalkeeper Andres Palop, who kept "Sevilla" safe from Nikola Zigic and Pedro Munitis's strikes.

In Pamplona, Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy was unstoppable, scoring all four goals for the Royal club. The visitors took the lead in the 12th minute: after a shot by Robinho from about 30 meters, "Osasuna" goalkeeper Ricardo only managed to deflect the ball, which R. van Nistelrooy pounced on and sent into the net.

Despite "Osasuna" having similar chances to the Royal club, the result turned into a thrashing before half-time. Former "Man Utd" forward scored his third goal with a precise shot after Raul's pass before the break.

In the middle of the second half, "Osasuna" managed to reduce the deficit when Valdo scored with a header from a corner, which came after fantastic play by Iker Casillas in goal.

Yet, Sunday was Van Nistelrooy's day - with five minutes remaining, the striker received a great pass from Brazilian Emerson during a counter-attack and scored from the penalty corner. The Dutchman joined Diego Milito, Ronaldinho, and Frederic Kanoute on top of the list of the most scoring players with eight goals each.

Following this victory, "Real" rose to third place in the standings, trailing the leader "Barcelona" by just three points.

And continues to surprise everyone, Huelva's "Recreativo" - this year's team returning to the top league this season, this time defeated Vigo's "Celta" 2-1 away and solidified their position in the middle of the standings.

Also, another victory this season was achieved by Seville's "Betis" - this time defeating Valencia's "Levante" 2-1 at home.

Two matches on Sunday ended in goalless draws: besides the aforementioned "Racing Santander" and "Sevilla", Taragona's "Gimnastic" played to a draw with La Coruna's "Deportivo" with the same result.

For the sixth time this season, Barcelona's "Espanyol" managed a draw, this time played 1-1 against "Real Sociedad" who are not climbing up from the bottom of the standings.

In the last Sunday match, "Barcelona" achieved a convincing victory by defeating former "Zaragoza" 3-1 before the round.

In attacking football matches, the visitors took the lead first when 17 minutes into the game, Argentine defender Gabriel Milito beat Victor Valdes. However, less than fifteen minutes later, Brazilian Ronaldinho equalized with a header from a corner kick taken by Deco.

Although the hosts were left with ten men in the 73rd minute when Thiago Motta was sent off, they managed to equalize four minutes later - Gabriel Milito saw a red card for a foul on Javier Saviola.

With four minutes left to play, Ronaldinho put the hosts ahead with an impressive penalty kick, and in extra time, J. Saviola secured Barcelona's victory with a header into empty net.

The joy of victory for the Catalan superclub was marred by news that Lionel Messi suffered an injury. Preliminary estimates suggest that the young Argentine could be without football for three months.

Statistics:

Vigo "Celta" 1 - 2 Huelva's "Recreativo"

48' [0 - 1] Florent Sinama Pongolle

57' [0 - 2] Ikechukwu Uche

82' [1 - 2] Antonio Guayre

86' Gabriel Tamas ("Celta") sent off

Madrid's "Getafe" 1 - 0 "Mallorca"

60' [1 - 0] Nacho

Taragona's "Gimnastic" 0 - 0 La Coruna's "Deportivo"

"Racing Santander" 0 - 0 "Sevilla"

Seville's "Betis" 2 - 1 Valencia's "Levante"

6' [1 - 0] Edu