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On Saturday, in the central match of the 14th round of the Spanish championship, "Sevilla" achieved a victory at home, defeating Madrid's "Real" 2-1, allowing the leader "Barcelona" to remain at the top, who also won with a minimal advantage against San Sebastian's "Real Sociedad".
In the intense match in Seville, the former captain of the English national team, David Beckham, who rarely appears in the starting lineup of "Real" this season, secured his place in the Royal Club after an impressive performance against Kiev's "Dynamo". It was Beckham who put the visitors ahead with a penalty shot in the 13th minute, scoring his second goal of the season. However, this goal will not enter the collection of the best goals, as D. Beckham clearly attempted to pass the ball to his teammates in the penalty area, but no one touched it and the ball went into the far corner of the goal.
However, "Real" did not hold the lead for long, as just four minutes later the players of "Sevilla" equalized - after a shot from outside the penalty area by Luis Fabiano, the ball rebounded from the crossbar, and the first to reach it was Malian international striker Frederic Kanoute, who defeated Iker Casillas.
Both teams had opportunities to take the lead in the first half. Roberto Carlos had several dangerous shots on goal for "Real", and the best chances in the first half were wasted by Brazilian Ronaldo, who decided not to shoot at the goal but to pass the ball to "Sevilla" goalkeeper Andres Palop.
After the halftime break, "Real" coach Fabio Capello decided to change tactics slightly and sent Alvaro Mejia onto the field instead of Michel Salgado. However, this change benefited "Sevilla," who took the initiative.
After recovering from an injury, Jesus Navas created the first chance in the second half but missed the target, and later F. Kanoute had an opportunity after taking the ball from Roberto Carlos but shot over the goal.
However, "Real," lacking strength in the middle of the field, failed to secure even a point - after a long pass from the wing, "Real" failed to create an offside trap due to Sergio Ramos standing still, and Ernesto Chevanton, who came on the field as a substitute and stood higher than anyone else, scored the winning goal.
With this victory, "Sevilla" maintained a 100% winning record at home and reclaimed the second place in the tournament table, which they had lost after unexpectedly losing 2-1 to Barcelona's "Espanyol" in the last round.
In the match with San Sebastian, European champions Barcelona started with a different lineup than the one that defeated Bremen's "Werder" 2-0 on Tuesday and crossed the barrier of the UEFA Champions League group stage. F. Rijkaard allowed Rafael Marquez to rest, and the Frenchman Lilian Thuram appeared on the field in his place, while Brazilians Juliano Belletti and Sylvinho started instead of full-backs Gianluca Zambrotta and Giovanni van Bronckhorst; in the midfield, Xavi appeared instead of Andres Iniesta.
Meanwhile, "Real Sociedad" played with a tactical scheme with lone striker Darko Kovacevic in the attack.
Although the guests started the match very actively, "Barcelona" quickly took control and scored two goals in the first half, but both were disallowed for offside: in the 18th minute, Icelandic Eidur Gudjohnsen scored from offside, and three minutes later, he passed the ball to the Brazilian Ronaldinho, whose shot was saved by goalkeeper Claudio Bravo. Although Xavi rushed to the rebound and sent it into the goal, the side referee decided that the Spanish player was in an offside position.
While the hosts dominated the field, "Real Sociedad" almost took the lead in the 27th minute when the players of the Catalan club failed to clear the ball in the penalty area, and it fell to Mikel Aranburu about 14 meters from the goal. The midfielder shot at goal, but the ball that had already passed Victor Valdes was cleared at the last moment by Julian Belletti.
Ronaldinho almost scored an impressive goal in the other half of the field, and Portuguese Deco could have scored with his head. However, "Real Sociedad" managed to keep the score level until halftime, during which the referees were escorted off the field by whistles from the fans for not counting two goals.
Barcelona started the second half sluggishly, and the guests almost took advantage of it: in the 52nd minute, Gari Uranga headed the ball close to the goal, but lacked accuracy.
After six minutes, C. Bravo made a save, deflecting the ball crossed by E. Gudjohnsen. However, the goalkeeper could not do anything on the next attack: L. Giuly noticed an unmarked Ronaldinho, who has been in great form lately and the Brazilian scored the winning goal from the edge of the penalty area.
Minutes later, the leaders of the Spanish championship could have doubled the lead, but after a pass from Deco, Xavi shot directly at the guests' goalkeeper. With ten minutes left to play, Xavi shot inaccurately again, this time after a pass from Ronaldinho. A few moments later, J. Belletti almost scored from over 25 meters.
However, "Real Sociedad" also had a chance to equalize the score - in the 82nd minute, a shot from D. Kovacevic was saved by V. Valdes.
"Barcelona" ended the match with ten men - with five minutes left, Sylvinho received two yellow cards within a few minutes: the first was for time-wasting, and the second - for a foul in the middle of the field.
With a numerical advantage, "Real Sociedad" almost leveled the score in injury time but V. Valdes made an impressive save from a header by Mikel Gonzalez.
With this victory, "Barcelona" secured their place as the leader of the Spanish championship and will travel to the Club World Cup in Japan on Sunday. Meanwhile, "Real Sociedad" remains the only team in the Spanish championship this year that has not yet achieved a victory.
