Leapfrog with a ball

Barcelona and Sevilla switch places, but not for long

Barca's hegemony in the Pyrenees may be endless, but it is still interrupted from time to time. True, this happens only because the pursuing Sevilla usually plays matches a little earlier, after which the blue garnets easily or not without difficulty, but still jump over the frisky Andalusians.

In the match with Mallorca, the Catalans prepared for the jump for quite a long time, and it cannot be said that their run-up went smoothly. For the first half hour or so of playing time, all they did was look closely, try it on, and shift from foot to foot, and only when Ronaldinho said to himself and the others “that’s enough,” Barca moved forward. And, in fact, she moved at a walk, since in the case of the first two goals there were no lightning-fast flank passes, no impressive dribbling, but only well-calibrated passes. And in both cases - to the imperturbable Icelander Eidur Gudjohnsen, temporarily and so far very successfully replacing the injured Samuel Eto'o at the forefront of the attack. But “Mallorca” did not have enough northern endurance, because, having reduced the gap in the score to a minimum, the islanders remained in the numerical minority due to the rudeness of their defender Varela. So it was not difficult for the “blue garnets”, who played in orange uniforms this time, to send a couple more goals into the net of the Balearic club’s goal in the remaining time.

Real Madrid, which was third, although it beat Racing with a fairly convincing score, hardly forced skeptics to change their opinion regarding the instability and inexpressiveness of their game. Fabio Capello's team created fewer dangerous chances than their opponents, and it was not without reason that after the end of the match, the Italian specialist, as well as his colleague from the opposite camp, Miguel Angel Portugal, first of all noted Iker Casillas. Probably, Capello should have said a few words of gratitude to the main referee of the match, Lizondo Cortes, who did not notice how, with the score 1:0, Roberto Carlos, saving his team, played with his hand on the goal line, and also forgave two flagrant fouls on Sergio Ramos, when Real were already down to ten men after Guti was sent off.

There were some refereeing mistakes in the central match of the tour, which was rightly considered not the Galician “clasico” at all, but the battle of two giants included in the first “clip” of Barcelona’s competitors in the fight for the champion title. True, the battle as such did not work out, since Mejia Davila already in the 17th minute of the meeting expelled Valencia midfielder David Silva from the field, who opened a real hunt for Daniel Alves. In fairness, he had reasons to chase the Brazilian defender of Sevilla, since the referee did not notice how he rewarded his opponent with a sweeping blow to the face in the 40th second of the game.

“Valencia” did not have time to come to their senses, because almost immediately the ball entered their goal for the first time after a strong hit by defender Julien Escudé, to whom Santiago Cañizares prematurely capitulated. In the second half, the “bats” completely wilted and allowed the Andalusians to easily and naturally score a couple more goals. But the guests' problems did not end there: at the last minute, Edu suffered a rupture of the cruciate ligament in his knee, who was out of action for the rest of the season. Considering that Albelda, Del Horno, Marchena, Moretti and Regueiro are already in the team hospital, Valencia will have a very difficult time in the near future.

However, why should Valencia complain about its not-so-dire situation when there are such sufferers as Real Sociedad or Betis, who, as they say, have no time for fat, if only they could live. By the way, in the last round their game of survival ended in a goalless draw, to put it mildly, which did not please either Javier Irureta’s charges or the Basques, who still do not have a single victory to their credit. And there is only one such team in all of advanced Europe. But once upon a time the San Sebastian club, led by Reynald Denuex and Valery Karpin, fought for the championship title on equal terms with Real Madrid.

Javier Irureta's former club Deportivo, to which he devoted seven years of his coaching career, lost at home to one of Karpin's former clubs, Celta. Under them, the Galician “clasico” in the vast majority of cases was very emotional, and this time too the emotions were over the edge. These very emotions were sometimes greater than the game itself, and before the break the teams did not make a single shot on target. But in the second half, “Deportivo” beat and beat, but did not score, and “Celta” only had one counterattack to please its fans with a victory of some kind. By the way, these fans brought a small coffin to Riasor with the inscription “Deportivo” and the date of this match on the lid. Of course, it’s still too early to bury Depor, but Joaquin Caparros’ team is unlikely to be able to count on anything serious this season. Just like Celta itself.

11th round. “Sevilla” – “Valencia” – 3:0, “Real” – “Racing” – 3:1, “Espanyol” – “Atlético” – 3:2, “Levante” – “Atlético” -- 0:3, Real Sociedad -- Betis -- 0:0, Recreativo -- Osasuna -- 2:0, Villarreal -- Getafe -- 1:0, " Zaragoza - Gimnastic - 3:0, Mallorca - Barcelona - 1:4, Deportivo - Celta - 0:1.

Leading: Barcelona - 26, Sevilla - 25, Real Madrid -23.

Andrey SKVORTSOV