The leaders of the Spanish championship can change already on Sunday, as the Sevilla footballers who currently occupy this position failed to beat the Villarreal team on Saturday. The other matches of the 19th round played on Saturday ended with Atletico's victory against the Pamplona-based Osasuna team.
Madrid 1 - 0 Pamplona 83` [1 - 0] Ze Castro 79` Carlos Cuellar was sent off the field ("Osasuna") 87` Roberto Soldado was sent off the field ("Osasuna") 90` Ricardo was sent off the field ("Osasuna") 90+6` Raul Garcia was sent off the field ("Osasuna")
There was a lot of passion in the Madrid match, where for the third time in two weeks, Atletico and Pamplona's Osasuna met, which was reflected in the match protocol.
Already in the first half of the match, almost a fight broke out on the field when Osasuna defender Jose Izquierdo committed a rough foul against Jose Manuel Jurado. Meanwhile, Atletico fans started chanting racist slogans directed at Osasuna striker from Cameroon Pierre Webo.
At the end of the first half, the referee sent off former Osasuna coach, now leading Atletico, Javier Aguirre.
The passion erupted at the end of the match when in the 78th minute, Carlos Cuellar tripped Atletico striker Fernando Torres in the penalty area. The referee not only awarded a penalty kick, but also sent off the Osasuna defender.
However, the Spanish national team striker failed to successfully convert the penalty kick and the result remained unchanged. However, a winning goal was scored four minutes later, when Ze Castro took advantage of the confusion in the penalty area, defeating Osasuna goalkeeper Ricardo from about 15 meters.
A few minutes after Ze Castro scored with an elbow strike, Osasuna striker Roberto Soldado was sent off the field, and towards the end of regular time, for delaying the game, Ricardo received a second yellow card and was sent off.
Just before the final whistle announcing the end of the match, for a rough foul on Greek Giourkas Seitaridis, young talent Raul Garcia also saw a red card.
It is interesting that Osasuna, who had won nine out of the last 11 matches before this one, did not hit the opponent's goal once during this match, while Atletico did it four times.
0 - 0
Sevilla still failed to achieve victory in the Spanish championship this year, playing goalless away against the spirited Villarreal.
The home team started the match more actively and Marcos Senna and Diego Forlan missed opportunities to score. Sevilla's first real chance came right at the end of the first half, when defender Renato shot from outside the penalty area, but his shot was successfully blocked by Villarreal goalkeeper Sebastian Viera.
Sevilla started the second half better, but the most prolific player in the Spanish championship, Mali national team striker Frederic Kanoute, did not capitalize on a great opportunity.
Villarreal could have scored a winning goal with about five minutes left, but Sevilla goalkeeper Andres Palop made a great save on Diego Forlan's header.
After these matches, Sevilla has only a three-point advantage over Real, Barcelona, and Atletico, although Real has one game in hand and Barcelona has two.
Sunday's matches La Coruna "Deportivo" - Barcelona "Espanyol" Madrid "Getafe" - Vigo "Celta" Valencia "Levante" - Bilbao "Athletic" Seville "Betis" - Santander "Racing" San Sebastian "Real Sociedad" - "Valencia" "Zaragoza" - Huelva "Recreativo" "Barcelona" - Tarragona "Gimnastic" "Mallorca" - Madrid "Real"
Tournament table