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On Saturday in Spain, two matches of the 11th round were played, in which convincing victories were achieved by Madrid's "Real" and "Sevilla", defeating Santander's "Racing" and "Valencia" respectively.
In the matches held in Madrid, the Royal club did not face much resistance from the 11th placed "Racing" players and celebrated an easy victory of 3-1.
The Royal club started the match excellently, as in the fifth minute of the match the Spanish national team defender Sergio Ramos scored a goal with a header after a corner. However, "Real" found it a bit harder until the middle of the second half when Brazilian Emerson received a pass in a counterattack and Spanish Jose Antonio Reyes defeated the opponent's goalkeeper.
In the 71st minute, the result became overwhelming when "Real" captain Raul passed the ball to Mali national team midfielder Mahamadou Diarra, who scored a goal on his second attempt.
Although Argentine defender Ezequiel Garay softened the result with a great penalty shot after five minutes, it was all the visitors could do.
The Royal club finished the match with ten players, as in the 88th minute, Spanish Guti was sent off the field after receiving a red card for hitting an elbow against opponent Vitolo.
The spectators were hoping for a more intense battle in the later matches held in Seville, where the local "Sevilla", playing impressively this year, hosted the also high-ranking but recently injury-plagued "Valencia". However, the 45 thousand fans gathered in the stadium did not see a fierce battle - already in the 17th minute, debuting for the Spanish national team in the middle of the week, David Silva received his second yellow card for elbowing and had to leave the field. After this mistake, the hosts made the most of the penalty shot, when defender Julien Escude defeated Santiago Canizares with a strong shot from about 20 meters.
The remaining guests were unable to resist the well-organized attack machine of "Sevilla". In the second half, after almost ten minutes of play, Brazilian Luis Fabiano received a perfect pass from Dani Alves, outsmarted two defenders, and defeated the "Valencia" goalkeeper for the second time.
With less than 20 minutes left to play, the result became overwhelming when Frederic Kanoute received a long pass from Antonio Puerta, stopped the ball with his chest in the penalty area, and sent it into the goal from close range, between two defenders.
The result could have been even higher as Fredrik Kanoute and Luis Fabiano missed several opportunities to score.
The defeat was further upset for the guests at the end of the match due to the injuries of the Spanish national team striker David Villa and Brazilian Edu. Recently, "Valencia" could not even rely on seven players due to various injuries.
Sunday matches:
Mallorca - Barcelona
Espanyol - Athletic Bilbao
Recreativo - Osasuna
Zaragoza - Gimnastic
Villarreal - Getafe
Levante - Atletico
Real Sociedad - Betis
Deportivo - Celta
Statistics:
Madrid 3 - 1
5' [1 - 0] Sergio Ramos
58' [2 - 0] Jose Antonio Reyes
71' [3 - 0] Mahamadou Diarra
76' [3 - 1] Ezequiel Garay
88' Guti was sent off ("Real")
3 - 0
19' [1 - 0] Julien Escude
54' [2 - 0] Luis Fabiano
71' [3 - 0] Frederic Kanoute
17' David Silva was sent off ("Valencia")
Tournament table:
