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  • Tuesday, 26 May 2009

    La Liga Round 37 Review: Top 2 lose again

    Villarreal 3 - 1 Valencia
    Barcelona 0 - 1 Osasuna
    Sevilla 1 - 0 Deportivo La Coruña
    Getafe 1 - 0 Numancia
    Recreativo Huelva 0 - 1 Racing
    Real Valladolid 1 - 2 Sporting Gijón
    Málaga 1 - 1 Real Betis
    Almería 0 - 3 Espanyol
    Athletic Bilbao 1 - 4 Atlético Madrid
    Real Madrid 1 - 3 Mallorca

    With the Champions League final approaching, Pep Guardiola fielded another second string for the visit of Osasuna and the Pamplona club came away with a potentially vital victory courtesy of a first-half Walter Pandiani goal, meaning they keep pace with Sporting Gijon who somewhat unsurprisingly beat Valladolid who on current form are possibly the worst football team in the entire world.

    Real Madrid are playing like losers also, letting Mallorca thump them on their own patch. After Higuain gave the home side the lead, Mallorca stunned the hosts with three second half goals, from Juan Arango, the surprisingly good Cleber Santana and an absolutely fantastic individual strike from Alhassane Keita to round it off. Mallorca, having looked down and out at Christmas, are now 9th, and I for one am chuffed about that.

    Sevilla remain third after a very, very late Diego Perotti goal was enough to beat Deportivo. Sevilla will have third spot nailed on if they beat already-relegated Numancia on the final day. Numancia lost at Getafe, Roberto Soldado scoring for the third week running and repaying the faith Getafe put in Michel to get them out of trouble. Recreativo will join Numancia in the Segunda after a Nikola Zigic goal (who else?) for Racing beat them at home.

    Diego Forlan, probably the best player in the world right now (You think I exaggerate? I think not) scored a hat-trick to defeat Athletic Bilbao, who are safe from the drop despite a truly miserable run of form. Atletico have Almeria in their final game and a win would make certain their fourth place ahead of Villarreal, who beat Valencia after Joseba Llorente (2) and Cani scored at the Madrigal to mean Valencia can no longer aim for a top 4 spot and must now face the bleak financial situation that brings.

    The final round of fixtures goes thus:

    Saturday 30 May:
    Mallorca v Villarreal
    Deportivo La Coruña v Barcelona
    Atlético Madrid v Almería
    Valencia v Athletic Bilbao

    Sunday 31 May:
    Numancia v Sevilla
    Espanyol v Málaga
    Osasuna v Real Madrid
    Racing Santander v Getafe
    Sporting Gijón v Recreativo Huelva
    Real Betis v Real Valladolid

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