Racing 0 - Alavés 0

Racing: Lemmens; Mellberg, Tais, Txema, Neru; Espina, Colsa; Munitis, Vivar Dorado, Amavisca; Salva. 4-2-3-1.
Alavés: Herrera; Contra, Karmona, Eggen, Torres Mestre; Astudillo, Pablo, Desio, Ibon Begoña; Javi Moreno, Julio Salinas. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Racing: Txema, Neru, Colsa for Arzeno, Sietes, Manjarín / Alavés: Eggen, Javi Moreno for Téllez, Magno.

Goals: None.

Alavés lost a bit more ground on the leaders with a scoreless draw against a Racing side who need every point they can to stay in the top flight. With European football a real possibility for the Vitoria based club for the first time in their history, manager Mané decided to play what for him was an attacking 4-4-2 formation in an attempt to get the maximum points from this match. Kodro returned from injury to replace Julio Salinas up front, and he was joined by Javi Moreno, who has been scoring goals as substitute recently. Norwegian international Dan Eggen came in to the defence to replace the suspended Téllez. Gustavo Benítez decided to return to his old formation after losing last week to Espanyol, bringing back Colsa in midfield and playing Neru at left back in place of the suspended Sietes. Txema returned in the centre of the defence after passing a fitness test, but he had to be replaced by Arzeno in the eleventh minute as he aggravated the old injury. Referee García Aranda stopped the game early on and asked for ground officials to take down offensive posters protesting about his colleague Prados García, who sent off keeper Ceballos a couple of weeks ago. Up to then that was the most interesting moment of the match, and it didn't get much better for supporters as the two sides fought for control. Racing's striker Salva is going through his worst spell of the season, and he should have done better with Amavisca's cross early in the match. He has not scored now for almost three months, and he was finally displaced as the league's top scorer by Hasselbaink later in the day. Alavés went close through Contra shortly before half time, the Romanian full back beating several players before hitting his shot wide. Morales came on for Pablo for the visitors at half time, and Magno replaced Kodro ten minutes in to the half. Benítez brought on Bestchastnykh for Amavisca on the hour, and the big Russian striker shot just wide near the end. Other than that not a lot happened, and the crowds went home without having seen a goal from either side. This was Racing's tenth draw at home, and they stay in fifteenth place, just three points ahead of Oviedo. With Real Madrid, Celta and Valladolid all drawing as well, Alavés have now gone nine games without an away defeat, and they stay fifth, five points clear of Valencia in sixth place.

Celta Vigo 1 - Valladolid 1

Celta: Pinto; Sergio, Cáceres, Djorovic, Juanfran; Makelele, Giovanella; Belmadi, Revivo, Gustavo López; McCarthy. 4-2-3-1.
Valladolid: César; Torres Gómez, Peña, Santamaría, Heinze, Marcos; García Calvo, Lozano, Rodrigo; Alberto, Víctor. 5-3-2.

Team changes: Celta: Makelele, Revivo, Gustavo López, McCarthy for Velasco, Karpin, Tomás, Hoogendorp / Valladolid: Heinze, Lozano for Turiel, Caminero.

Goals:
1-0. 37. McCarthy. Raced through offside trap, took pass from Revivo to score.
1-1. 77. Caminero. Low shot after hesitation by the defence.

Celta and Valladolid stay poised to take advantage of any slip up by the teams above them as the teams, currently in 7th and 8th place in the league, shared the points in the Balaidos stadium. On their form throughout the season Celta should probably be in a higher position, but a long run in the UEFA cup and a string of injuries to their key internationals has brought them to their knees recently. Karpin joined the long injury list midweek, the Russian midfielder returning from playing for his country with another injury which left him on the sidelines for this match. He joined his fellow countryman Mostovoi and Celades on the physio's table, and with Velasco also sitting out a one match suspension, Sergio played at makeshift right back and Makelele, Revivo and Gustavo López came back in to the starting line up. At least Víctor Fernández had a choice of striker this week, with McCarthy returning from an international match for South Africa and Turdó finally recovered from an injury which has kept him out for two months to take a place on the bench. Heinze returned for the visitors after his three match suspension, and Lozano was back to fitness after his four week long layoff. Another who was back in action was referee Prados García, officiating his first game since his controversial sending off of Racing's Ceballos, and the crowd constantly baited him asking him to show off his diving abilities. Those who thought he would have turned over a new leaf were mistaken however, as Prados, clearly agitated after the criticism he received for his previous performance, showed ten cards, including two reds in the second half. One lesson he had apparently learned however was not to upset the home crowd, and having waived away Valladolid's claims for what looked like a clear penalty by Juanfran on Rodrigo early on, he disallowed a goal by Valladolid's Víctor for a dubious offside in the second half. Juanfran and Rodrigo are both volatile characters, and having spent much of the match at each other's heels, it was no surprise when they exchanged slaps fifteen minutes from the end. Juanfran started it, and although Rodrigo's reply did not seem so hard, Juanfran fell to the ground as if pole-axed. Prados stepped up and, always appreciative of a fellow diver, immediately awarded 'deux points' and a red card to Rodrigo. The sending off restored the equilibrium to the match after Giovanella had received his marching orders shortly after the interval for a second bookable offence. Seeing the writing on the wall, Valladolid's shrewd manager Manzano decided to take off a couple of his players who were already on a yellow card, bringing on Caminero and Eusebio for Santamaria and Lozano. The move also helped to strengthen the attack, and Caminero finished off a good move thirteen minutes from time to cancel out Benni McCarthy's earlier strike. Víctor Fernández brought Turdó on near the end for Revivo, having already substituted the injured Makele with Vivas at half time and changing Belmadi for Tomás a bit later. Both sides hit the woodwork in the first half, firstly from a Sergio header for the home side and then a reply by Marcos for the visitors, but other than the goal the second half produced few chances, with a heavy rainstorm making conditions difficult. The draw leaves both teams at status quo, and either could steal a place in Europe for next season if results go their way in the next few games. Celta will however be without Giovanella and probably Makelele for their visit to Real Madrid next weekend, and Valladolid are waiting on news from Shoji Jo, who has decided not to have an operation on his knee ligaments and is hoping to return in a couple of weeks time.