Atlético de Madrid 1 - Athletic Bilbao 2

Atlético: Molina; Aguilera, Santi, Gamarra, Toni; Njegus, Bjebl, Valerón, Lardín; Kiko, Hasselbaink. 4-4-2.
Athletic:Lafuente; Larrainzar, Lacruz, Roberto Rios, Carlos García, Felipe; Asensio, Alkiza, Urrutia, Yeste; Etxeberria. 5-4-1.

Team changes: Atlético: Santi, Toni, Njegus, Lardín, Hasselbaink for Mena, Ayala, Capdevila, Solari, Correa / Bilbao: Roberto Rios, Lacruz, Asensio, Yeste for Alkorta, Guerrero, Tiko, Urzaiz.

Goals:
0-1. 29. Etxeberria. First time shot after cross from left headed on to him.
1-1. 37. Hasselbaink. Ball broke to him wide on right after goalmouth scramble.
1-2. 80. Guerrero. Turned cross from right by Edu Alonso past Molina on near post.

Atlético Madrid's situation both on and off the pitch took a turn for the worse this week, with the team losing at home to drop further into the relegation zone, and their legal administrator Luis Manuel Rubí presenting a damning report to the judge. One way or another they look doomed for the second division, and even if they survive in the league, they could be relegated if they are declared bankrupt. Rubí's report accuses president Jesus Gil and his management team of generating black money by under-declaring gate money, and paying players offshore with illegal funds to avoid tax. Financial accounts were apparently manipulated, and instead of the declared profit last year of 3,000 million pesetas, they actually made a loss of that amount once the relevant adjustments were made for overvalued players etc. Although in the long term the report states that the club is viable in view of the substantial media earnings they can generate, in the short term they need a rapid injection of funds to meet immediate payments, and if these are not found by the end of the month then the club will legally suspend payments (i.e. declare bankruptcy). In the longer term the administrator is looking for a capital increase of around 13,000 million pesetas to meet their financial obligations. The judge has given the accused five days to reply, and both Jesus Gil and his son Miguel Angel were heavily critical in the local sporting press of the report. The fact is however that on the strength of this evidence, the Gil family will never return to take control of the club, and they could even end up in jail if the case runs to it's logical conclusion. Meanwhile the administrator accused local press of generating bad feeling against the legal intervention by their pro-Gil articles.

With this background the sporting side has understandably taken a turn for the worse, and Atlético have not won now for nine matches, since before Antic took over. This week Antic turned to his veterans, bringing back Toni, Santi, Njegus and Lardín, with Hasselbaink returning from a one match suspension up front. Athletic Bilbao have also been going through a crisis on the field of play, and Luis Fernández once again surprised everyone leaving current Spanish internationals Guerrero on the bench and Urzaiz out of the squad completely. In their place he brought in two youngsters Yeste and Asensio, with the latter making his debut for the first team, eventually playing alone up front (local press have given up guessing what the formation will be and just publish the names in random order). Roberto Rios returned from a long absence, mainly through injury, and he replaced Alkorta, who may be out for the rest of the season with a reoccurence of his injury. The match started in heavy rain, and conditions grew steadily worse until referee Ansuategui Roca was forced to suspend play for 15 minutes early in the second half in the middle of a freak hail storm which left the pitch completely white. Normally the match would have been abandoned, but with very few free dates available for a replay, Ansuategui ordered the touch lines to be cleared and the game continued on a heavily waterlogged pitch. At the time the game was stopped the home team were playing their best football of the match, and Hasselbaink had equalised Etxeberria's goal on the half hour. The Dutch striker moved to the top of the goalscorers table with his goal, and could end up topping the English and Spanish statistics in consecutive years. After the stoppage Fernández brought on Edu Alonso and Guerrero for the two youngsters (god knows who played up front), and Antic introduced Paunovic for Lardín and then Hugo Leal for Njegus. Bilbao were however more used to these conditions, and ten minutes from time the two substitutes combined, with Guerrero getting ahead of the Madrid defence to turn Alonso's cross past Molina. Atlético were sunk in more than one meaning of the word, and they stay next to bottom, a point worse off than last week. Bilbao finally return to winning ways after losing their last five away matches, and they were the only team in the league to improve their position, rising three places to tenth. Despite the victory the Bilbao board have had enough of Luis's idiosynchracies, and the day after the match they announced that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season. Atlético Madrid wish that that was their only problem.

Mallorca 1 - Espanyol 3

Mallorca: Leo Franco; Olaizola, Nadal, Siviero, Miguel Soler; Lauren, Engonga, Stankovic; Ibagaza; Carlos, Eto'o. 4-3-1-2.
Espanyol: Cavallero; Cristóbal, Pochettino, Soldevila, Roger; Velamazán, Galca, Arteaga, De Lucas; Martín Posse; Tamudo. 4-4-1-1.

Team changes: Mallorca: Ibagaza, Eto'o for Chichi Soler, Diego Tristán / Espanyol: Soldevila, Tamudo for Nando, Sergio.

Goals:
0-1. 04. Galca (penalty). Foul off the ball by Miguel Soler on De Lucas.
1-1. 22. Eto'o.Took through pass from Engonga and beat Cavallero.
1-2. 70. Roger. First time shot on far post after cross by Navas.
1-3. 85. Manel. Shot from edge of area after square pass by Velamazán.

Mallorca manager Fernando Vázquez was close to being dismissed after his team lost again to drop to 14th, only four points from the relegation positions. In the end the board decided to give him another chance, but with their next match away to Barcelona that must be a bit like Hannibal Lector inviting you to dinner. Mallorca have now gone eight matches without a victory including the last three in the UEFA, and strangely their bad run of form has coincided with the return of most of their key players after injury. This week the only absence was the suspended Diego Tristán, with Camerooni striker Eto'o given a chance in his place, and Vázquez also decided to draft in Ibagaza in place of Paco Soler in a more attacking line up. Tamudo passed a late fitness test for the visitors and came in up front, with Posse and De Lucas dropping back to support striker and midfield respectively. With Nando and Sergio both suspended, Soldevilla came in to the centre of defence. In the first match between these two sides this season, Mallorca keeper Mono Burgos was given an eleven match suspension for punching Serrano. To show there were no hard feelings, the two players shook hands before returning to their respective substitutes benches. The San Moix stadium was full for the third time this season, the club having dished out 6,000 free invitations during the week in an attempt to drum up support. The crowd were silenced early on however, as Galca converted a penalty after Stankovic had brought down De Lucas in the penalty area. The Romanian midfielder is having a good season, and West Ham are rumoured to be among many teams interested in signing him for next season. Nadal hit the bar with a header before Eto'o staked a claim for a regular first team place, scoring his first goal for his new club after a defence splitting pass by Engonga. At half time Espanyol manager Paco Flores decided to strengthen the right side where Mallorca were making inroads, and he replaced De Lucas with Argentina's Navas. Serrano came on for a not fully fit Tamudo on the hour. The substitutions worked, and after Serrano had brought a good save out of Leo Franco, Navas put in the cross for Roger to volley the ball into the back of the net. Up to that point Mallorca had only had one chance in the second half, with Carlos breaking free but unable to round Cavallero, and Vázquez took off the striker and put on yet another of his wealth of youngsters, Güíza, changing Olaizola for Armando and Engonga for Paco Soler later on. It was another of Espanyol's substitutions which added to the scoreline however, Manel getting his first goal for the club only three minutes after he replaced Posse. Flores said when he took over as caretaker manager that Espanyol would be safe if they could get 45 points. In fact they have taken 10 in the last four matches and are now only three away from that objective. With teams above them floundering, they are now ninth and are only three points away from the UEFA spots. Only a month ago it was Mallorca who were close to Europe and Espanyol who were fighting for survival. We've said it before, but if a week is a long time in football, a month is an age. Vázquez would be very happy if the league were to end right now.