Betis 1 - Numancia 2

Betis: Prats; Otero, Vidakovic, Bornes, Filipescu; Alexis, Karhan, Romero, Luis Fernández; Cuéllar, Alfonso. 4-4-2.
Numancia: Nuñez; Belsué, Muñiz, Iván Rocha, Jaume; Muñoz, Caco Moran, Nagore, Castaño; Barbu, Ojeda. 4-4-2.

Betis lost their third home game in a row to a Numancia side who are currently a surprising seventh in the league. The Betis stadium officially changed it's name from 'Benito Villamarín' to 'Ruiz de Lopera' in honour of their president, but the inaugural match was not a happy one with controversy surrounding the club all week. Lopera was not taking prisoners, and having threatened Denilson with being put on the transfer list, or worse still loaned out to Extremadura, if he went to play for the Brazilian pre-Olympic side in Australia, he complained about Finidi going to join the Nigerian team for the African cup, and then gave manager Carlos Griguol an ultimatum if results didn't improve. Denilson renounced his place with Brazil for the competition (and judging by the reaction of their manager Luxemburgo, for a long time to come), only to find himself on the substitutes bench. The only ray of light for Betis was the reappearance of two old warhorses, Vidakovic and Cuéllar, in the starting line up. Vidakovic, (who replaced Crosa), had been out for two years after a knee injury and then a virus infection, and Cuéllar was in a league starting line up for the first time this season taking Finidi's place. Numancia had four players, Belsué, Muñiz, Castaño and Nagore and also their manager Goekoetxea back from suspension, and included their new signing from Chile, Raúl Muñoz, in the starting line up. They were still without the injured Rubén Navarro up front, Ojeda keeping his place despite being out of favour after arriving late after the Christmas break (a common occurrence it seems). Ojeda had been fined by Goiko for the incident, but the manager offered to waive the fine if Ojeda scored. The tactic worked to perfection, the giant striker not only getting a spectacular goal, but doing so three minutes from time to win the match. Earlier Betis had taken the lead, Alfonso taking advantage of a defensive mistake to beat Herrera midway through the first half, but Barbu had levelled the scores in the second half from the penalty spot after Ojeda had been badly tackled by Vidakovic. On came Denilson, and he ran his heart out in an effort to prove that his sacrifice had not been in vain. It had been though, and Ojeda stuck the knife further in to the wound to leave Betis floundering in 15th place, with Griguol constantly looking over his shoulder to make sure that the knife wasn't actually sticking out of his back. It may be very shortly if things don't get better.

Racing Santander 2 - Málaga 3

Racing: Lemmens; Mellberg, Neru, Sietes; Manjarín, Espina, Ismael, Amavisca; Vivar Dorado, Salva, Munitis. 3-4-3.
Málaga: Contreras; Rojas, Bravo, Larrainzar, Valcarce; Rufete, De los Santos, Movilla, Agostinho; Catanha, Edgar. 4-4-2.

Racing's top scorer Salva scored two more to end the first half of the season with 20 goals, one better than Real Madrid's Hugo Sánchez's tally in 1989/90 and only bettered by Barcelona's César who scored 22 from 15 games in 1950/51. It was not enough however, and Salva left the field in a foul mood as he saw his team beaten by Málaga after being in front with half an hour to go. Both teams were unchanged, with Lemmens keeping his place in the home side goal after a fine performance last week. Santander's Russian striker Bestchastnykh was told not to turn up for training after making some out of place remarks in an international newspaper, and may well be placed on the transfer list. Racing's home record is abysmal, having only won one game at home all season, and that now eight games ago, and once again they let the game slip. They were behind after five minutes from a glorious strike from over 30 metres by Valcarce, the ball leaving Lemmens with no chance, but they dominated the rest of the first half and most of the second. Seven minutes before half time referee Díaz Vega ruled that Contreras had fouled Munitis, and awarded a penalty which Salva stuck away (it was a weekend for spot kicks, with six awarded in the first division and all scored). Salva struck again twelve minutes into the second half, dribbling round Contreras, and with a quarter of an hour to go it looked as if they were finally going to get their victory. However Edgar popped up to score from Rufete's corner, and three minutes from time it was Málaga's top scorer Catanha, who had hardly touched a ball all match, who appeared from nowhere to score from close range. This was Málaga's first ever win at Santander, and they move up to mid-table. Racing are back again to within a point of the relegation positions and need contributions from the other ten players in their team to get out of this mess.