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On Saturday in Spain, two derbies took place - Valencia and Barcelona. A very unexpected result was recorded in the latter, where "Espanyol" at home defeated the Spanish and European champions, Barcelona.
Barcelona 3 - 1
31' [1 - 0] Luis Garcia
60' [1 - 1] Javier Pedro Saviola
65' [2 - 1] Raul Tamudo
90' [3 - 1] Francisco Rufete
In the match held at the "Montjuic" stadium, Barcelona could have taken the lead by playing for about ten minutes, when a penalty kick from more than 25 meters away from the goal was awarded to Espanyol, and after returning from an injury, Ronaldinho shook the crossbar of Espanyol's goal with the penalty kick.
The first warning sign for the Barcelona team came in the 29th minute, when Rufete, positioned one-on-one with Victor Valdes after Ivan de La Pena's pass, demanded the goalkeeper to demonstrate all of his abilities. However, V. Valdes could no longer do so a few minutes later, when Luis Garcia, after a pass from Raul Tamudo from the back line, put the hosts in the lead.
After this goal, a very fierce battle erupted on the field, and until the end of the first half, both teams had several chances to score a goal.
In the second half, Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard decided to bring on the rarely used Javier Saviola instead of Ludovic Giuly. As it turned out later, his decision paid off - midway through the second half, J. Saviola impressively defeated Espanyol's goalkeeper Carlos Kameni with a long-range shot.
However, Barcelona did not celebrate this goal for long - just five minutes later, Rufete crossed the ball perfectly from the right flank, and Raul Tamudo's header from about ten meters once again put the hosts in the lead.
But even this goal did not wake up the more titled visitors, and within the home team several times threatened the opponents' goal through Walter Pandiani. Barcelona struggled to see the attacks, and even more struggled to create opportunities to score, despite having territorial advantage.
Although the referee added an extra five minutes to the main time, everything became clear in the first minute of extra time, when Rufete scored a goal from close range after Sergio Garcia's pass and secured Espanyol's victory.
This was the first home victory for Espanyol in the Barcelona derby in the last four seasons. And with just the second loss this season in the Spanish championship, Barcelona now trails the leaders Sevilla by two points and has played the same number of matches.
3 - 0 Valencia
51' [1 - 0] Hugo Viana
56' [2 - 0] Fernando Morientes
79' [3 - 0] Roberto Ayala
Meanwhile, "Valencia" in great form recently, on Saturday in the Valencia derby crushed "Levante" 3-0 and secured their fifth consecutive victory.
Portuguese Hugo Viana, who replaced the injured Ruben Baraja in the middle of the first half, put the hosts ahead at the beginning of the second half with a long-range shot that defeated Levante's goalkeeper.
Five minutes later, after recovering from an injury, Fernando Morientes redirected a poorly shot ball from David Silva into the goal, and with just over ten minutes left to play, Argentine national team defender Roberto Ayala headed the ball into the net after a penalty kick.
Sunday's matches
Athletic Bilbao - Villarreal
Gimnastic de Tarragona - Getafe
Osasuna - Real Betis
Racing Santander - Real Sociedad
Recreativo de Huelva - Deportivo La Coruna
Sevilla - Mallorca
Celta Vigo - Atletico Madrid
Real Madrid - Zaragoza
