Rayo 0 - Alavés 1

Rayo: Keller; Cota, Amaya, Hernández, Alcázar; Ferrón, Poschner, Helder, Michel I; Luis Cembranos; Canabal. 4-4-1-1.
Alavés: Herrera; Contra, Karmona, Téllez, Torres Mestre; Astudillo, Pablo, Azkoitia, Desio, Ibon Begoña;; Kodro. 4-5-1.

Team changes: Rayo: Amaya, Alcázar for Pablo Sanz, Llorens / Alavés: Azkoitia for Magno.

Goals:
0-1. 70 Téllez. Shot from edge of goal area after corner partly cleared by defence.

Alavés continue their incredible assault on the top spots with yet another single goal victory against a rapidly fading Rayo Vallecano. The last time that these two teams met, in Vitoria in the first half of the season, Rayo Vallecano were leading the table and they took the tie 0-1. Since then fortunes have been reversed, and Alavés are the team riding high, with Rayo slipping ever closer to relegation. Rayo manager Juande Ramos recovered Amaya and Alcázar in defence, but was still missing Bolo up front. Attack has been their Achilles' heel this season, and efforts to sign a new striker mid-season were blocked by the authorities over an old debt. Alavés were at full strength, with Azkoitia coming in for Magno in a five man midfield, a tactic which helped them defeat Barcelona at the Camp Nou stadium amongst others. Rayo started strongly but they were unable to make much of an inroad in the Alavés defence, although Luis Cembranos could have scored on the quarter hour, his shot going just wide, and the same player had another shot saved by Herrera before the break. At the start of the second half Azkoitia played further forward as the visitors came looking for a goal, with Rayo replacing an exhausted Cembranos with Llorens. Mané's reply was to substitute Pablo and Azkoitia with Morales and Javi Moreno, and Moreno forced a corner from Alcázar, who cleared off the line after the forward's chip had beaten Keller. From the resulting corner the ball fell to Téllez who, unmarked, had an easy task of putting his side ahead. Ramos put on an extra forward, Michel II, for Poschner and replaced Ferrón with Draper, as Mané fell further back, taking off his sole striker Kodro and bringing on Magno. Even then they managed a couple of efforts, with Javi Moerno bringing out a save from Keller, and then hitting a post near the end. Rayo's supporters booed off their side, and they now are dangerously approaching the drop zone. With the match played at midday on Sunday, Alavés moved above Real Madrid and Zaragoza up to second place, their highest position ever. Dreams can come true, although the fairy tale still has eleven weeks to run.

Valencia 2 - Athletic Bilbao 0

Valencia: Cañizares; Angloma, Djukic, Pellegrino, Carboni; Farinós, Mendieta, Gerard, Kily González; Ilie, Piojo López. 4-4-2.
Athletic:Lafuente; Lacruz, Carlos García, Ferreira, Larrazábal; Felipe, Alkiza, Tiko, José Mari; Joseba Etxeberria, Ezquerro. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Valencia: Kily González, Ilie for Milla, Juan Sánchez / Bilbao: Lafuente, José Mari, Alkiza, Felipe, Ezquerro for Imanol, Urrutia, Edu Alonso, Guerrero, Urzaiz.

Goals:
1-0. 83. Oscar. Ball fell to Kily on left, who pulled back to edge of penalty area.
2-0. 86. Piojo López. Individual effort, dribbling past the defence and keeper.

Referee Prados García took centre stage in this match, sending off two Bilbao players plus their manager Luis Fernández. The controversial sending off of Tiko on half time for a second bookable offence was a definite turning point in the match, with Bilbao coming out after half time looking to save a point, leaving Urzaiz (half time substitute for Ezquerro) alone up front. It is fair to say that Bilbao have been victims of bad refereeing this season, and they were without first choice keeper Imanol for this match, sent off rather rigorously last week by Megía Dávila. However Fernández doesn't help matters, and his constant protests and insults only serve to antagonise referees against him and his team. This week he was sent off for two incidents, each given a yellow card by Prados, and he also argued with Valencia president Pedro Cortés at half time, accusing him of influencing the referee. His attitude also affected the players, with Carlos García insulting the official three minutes from the end, receiving a direct red card for his troubles. Up to a point however the players attitude is understandable, and even the Valencia fans, who benefited from Prados García's decisions, chanted 'burro, burro' (donkey, donkey) to the referee at the end of the game. Getting back to the match, Héctor Cúper recovered Kily González and Ilie, both back from injury, with Farinós keeping his place in view of the serious injury to Milla last week. Luis made five changes, leaving out Julen Guerrero once again, with Urzaiz, suffering from a black eye, starting on the bench. Alkiza returned from suspension, and Urrutia was missing for the same reason. The first half was mainly Valencia, with Lafuente saving from Mendieta and Piojo López hitting the crossbar just before the interval. Bjorklund came on for Pellegrino at half time, and Luis replaced Etxeberria with Edu Alonso shortly afterwards. Lafuente kept out efforts from Gerard and Mendieta before substitute Oscar broke through minutes after coming on for Farinós. Two minutes later Piojo, who the day before had been given dual Spanish and Argentinian nationality, celebrated with his team's second. Valencia hang on to sixth place, and Bilbao's objective of European football next year looks more remote as they drop down the table.