28/03/2004
Beckham bruises Sevilla as Madrid stay top

The win meant Real stay top of the Spanish first division with 64 points from 30 games, one point ahead of Valencia who won 3-0 at Racing Santander.

Beckham showed no after-effects of the severe hamstring and calf bruises he picked up against Monaco in the Champions League on Wednesday which had caused him to miss training on Friday and lead many English papers to report that he was doubtful for this match and England's friendly clash with Sweden on Wednesday.

He turned on the style after just six minutes, producing a typical inch-perfect long-range pass for Santiago Solari to run onto and blast past Sevilla keeper Esteban Andres.

On the stroke of half time, Beckham sent an equally effective pass into the Sevilla box and this time it was Ronaldo who met the ball, the Brazilian World Cup winner getting a rare headed goal.

Sevilla clawed one back just before the hour, Julio Baptista scoring from the spot after Solari was been adjudged to have brought down Sevilla's Alejandro Maranon.

However, Real took less than four minutes to restore their two goal lead when World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane broke away to score, after Jose Maria Gutierrez had taken a leaf out of Beckham's book and produced a stunning cross from deep in the midfield.

Michel Salgado then added Real's fourth goal after 74 minutes, the Spanish international right back's first league goal for three seasons, tapping the ball home after Ronaldo had danced passed three defenders only to have his shot turned away by Esteban.

Ronaldo then completed Sevilla's wretched night a minute into injury time, running past several sleeping Sevilla defenders before getting his 24th league goal of the season.

Valencia, helped by two goals from Spanish international midfielder Vicente Rodriguez, had earlier put the pressure on Real with a 3-0 win at Racing Santander.

Vicente created the first goal after eight minutes when Racing goalkeeper Ricardo Lopez could only get a hand to his shot and the ball bounced into the net off the knee of the luckless defender Ayoze Diaz.

The Valencia player then scored himself two minutes into injury time at the end of the first half when he found the net from a narrow angle, the ball going between Ricardo's body and his right post.

After 75 minutes, Vicente was on target again, sweeping past three Racing defenders before firing home from the edge of the area.

"In the first half we played really compact football but just sometimes didn't quite control the game the way I wanted. At half time, I told them that they had to shape up, and work harder, if we were to avoid Racing getting back into the game," said Valencia coach Rafa Benitez.

Barcelona, who started the weekend in third place on the back of a nine game winning streak, had their game at Real Betis postponed due to a waterlogged pitch after torrential rain in Seville on Sunday.

Atletico Madrid edge up a place to fifth after 0-0 draw at Villarreal.

Draw specialists Osasuna lived up to their billing for a 1-1 result at Valladolid, the 14th occasion this season they have shared the points, to move up to sixth.

Bottom club Murcia got just their third victory of the season with a 2-0 over fellow strugglers Real Mallorca.

Jose Luis Acciari headed home Michel Sanchez's corner after 17 minutes and Michel himself added the second just after the break.

Despite the victory, Murcia are still eight points adrift at the foot of the table while Mallorca are just one place above the relegation zone in 17th place.

"But I love danger," quipped Mallorca coach Luis Aragones, trying to make light of his team's perilous position.

Spanish league table after Sunday's matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):