Several Spanish regional selections played friendly international matches during the holiday period, a tradition in Spain over the last few seasons. Catalunya beat Lithuania 5-0 in Barcelona's Nou Camp stadium in front of 50,000 who turned up despite the bad weather. Espanyol's Oscar scored two and the other goals came from Jordi Cruyff (who was brought up in Catalunya and therefore qualifies to play), Gerard (a penalty) and Xavi. Andalucia beat Morocco 2-0, with goals in the first half from Mallorca's Carlos and another Oscar, this one from Recreativo. Madrid's Fernando Hierro was team captain and Diego Tristán pulled out through injury. Asturias played their first match in 64 years, and beat Macedonia 1-0 thanks to an individualist goal early in the second half from Zaragoza's Juanele. Oviedo's international keeper Esteban and Barcelona's Luis Enrique were amongst their stars. Cantabria were missing the likes of Munitis, De La Peña and Ceballos, and they were beaten 0-1 by Estonia after Kristal scored in the fifteenth minute. Their best players were Real Madrid's Iván Helguera and Racing's Amavisca. Euskadi (the Basque country) captained by Valencia's Mendieta play Morocco on the 29th, and the Canary Isles had to call off their game as they could not find any opposition to play against after Cameroon pulled out with short notice. (23.12.00)