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"Real" Madrid on Saturday at home in one of the most important matches of this season beat "Valencia" footballers 2-1 and greatly improved their chances to compete for the Spanish champion title with "Barcelona." "Real" took the lead in the 18th minute, when Ruud van Nistelrooy scored a very impressive goal after a pass from Miguel Torres. Although at the beginning of the second half, former "Real" striker Fernando Morientes equalized the score after a pass from Joaquin, after a six-week break, David Beckham returned to the field and made an excellent pass into the penalty area, where defender Sergio Ramos scored the winning goal with his head. Although the match started with both teams being cautious at the "Santiago Bernabeu" stadium, "Valencia" created the first dangerous opportunity after more than 15 minutes, when David Villa made an impressive run on the left flank, beating two defenders, and although his shot was not accurate, he almost scored from the rebound from his teammate David Silva. However, "Real" responded to this attack with an impressive goal - after a quick counterattack, the ball ended up on the left side with defender Miguel Torres, who made a great pass to the far corner of the penalty area to the Dutchman R. van Nistelrooy, who scored a spectacular goal from about 15 meters into the far top corner of the goal. After this goal, "Real" did not relax and continued to pressure the visitors' goal even more, but after withstanding the five-minute siege, "Valencia" threatened the hosts' goal several times - former "Real" star F. Morientes had several good opportunities. At the beginning of the second half, F. Morientes finally took advantage of his third opportunity in the match, when Joaquin easily broke through the defense on M. Torres' side and made a great pass to the center of the penalty area, where the unmarked striker equalized the score. Soon, "Real" had the opportunity to restore the lead again, but Gonzalo Higuain's shot missed the target. In the meantime, "Valencia" frequently threatened the "Real" defenders who did their job superbly. Halfway through the second half, "Real's" head coach Fabio Capello decided to make substitutions, which, as later turned out, were decisive: instead of defensive midfielder Fernando Gago, he brought attacking midfielder Guti onto the field, and after a few minutes, after recovering from an injury, D. Beckham appeared on the field instead of G. Higuain. With just over 15 minutes left to play, the latter earned a penalty on the right attacking side, which he himself accurately lifted into the penalty area, thus helping Sergio Ramos score the winning goal. Shortly afterwards, the Englishman made a great pass to the Brazilian Robinho, but the latter shot over the goal. Although until the end of the match the Madrid team dominated on the field, "Valencia" was not willing to give up and almost equalized the score again through defender Asier del Horno, forcing Iker Casillas to make a save. After this victory, "Real" temporarily moved up to second place in the league table, two points behind the leader "Barcelona." However, the Barcelona team has played one match less. Meanwhile, "Valencia" remained in fourth place, and in case of a victory by the Catalonia superclub, their gap would increase to 9 points. Meanwhile, in the first matches of the 31st round of "La Liga" on Saturday, the struggling for survival in the league San Sebastian's "Real Sociedad" unexpectedly won at home, beating the sixth-placed Madrid "Atletico" club 2-0. In fierce matches, the hosts took the lead in the sixth minute, when the Serbian Darko Kovacevic scored after a pass from Savio on the flank. Moreover, after that "Real Sociedad" not only shook the crossbar of the "Atletico" goal but also doubled the score, however, D. Kovacevic's goal was disallowed due to offside. Unable to accept such course of the match, "Atletico" players ended the match with nine men: in the 70th minute, Peter Luccin was sent off for heated arguments with the referee, and with ten minutes left to play, for an unclear reason, Fabiano Eller also received his second yellow card. Shortly afterwards, "Real Sociedad" secured their victory when Savio scored after a pass from German Herrero. Statistics San Sebastian "Real Sociedad" 2 - 0 Madrid "Atletico" 6` [1 - 0] Darko Kovacevic 84` [2 - 0] Savio 70` Peter Luccin sent off ("Atletico") 80` Fabiano Eller sent off ("Atletico") Madrid "Real" 2 - 1 "Valencia" 18` [1 - 0] Ruud van Nistelrooy 52` [1 - 1] Fernando Morientes 73` [2 - 1] Sergio Ramos League table
