Athletic Bilbao 2 - Alavés 1

Athletic:Lafuente; Felipe, Alkorta, Ferreira (Expósito 63'), Larrazábal; Imaz (Sivori 80'), Urrutia, Carlos García, Javi González; Julen Guerrero; Urzaiz (David Karanka 88'). 4-4-1-1.
Alavés: Herrera; Contra, Karmona, Eggen, Torres Mestre; Astudillo, Desio, Pablo (Asier Salcedo 77'), Azkoitia (Kodro 70'), Ibon Begoña; Julio Salinas (Javi Moreno 65'). 4-5-1.

Team changes: Bilbao: Larrazábal, Urrutia, Guerrero for Expósito, Lasa, Sivori / Alavés: Contra, Eggen, Azkoitia for Gañan, Téllez, Javi Moreno.

Goals:
1-0. 19. Guerrero. Header from close up after Javi González crossed from left.
1-1. 45. Salinas. First time volley after Begoña's header came over defence.
2-1. 62. Carlos García. After Javi González turned back Guerrero's long cross.

It was not to be. Lowly Alavés playing in the Champions League was too much to hope for, and the headlines we had drafted, 'Beckham signs for Vitoria', and 'substitute Kodro scores past Kahn in 1-0 victory' have been condemned to the rubbish bin as they lost the last game of the season to Basque neighbours Athletic Bilbao. They will however still be playing in Europe next season for the first time in their history, and their sixth place in the league will shine out as a beacon for other modest teams to shoot at (whoops, there goes another mixed metaphor). The pre-match build up was rife with speculation, whether Bilbao, with nothing to play for, would let their good friends and neighbours win the match, or whether anyone had left a 'maletín' (a suitcase full of money) for the Bilbao players. Valencia had apparently done so according to the sporting press, offering 80 million Pesetas to the home side if they beat their opponents, thereby giving Valencia the chance to move above them in the league. Apparently Alavés had not reciprocated with Valencia or Real Madrid's opponents, but then 80 million Pesetas is probably more than the club's spending budget in the year. They should however have a chance to rake in some cash if they progress in the UEFA cup, allowing their players to spend frivolously, for example by replacing the inner tubes on their bicycles etc. Despite finishing higher than them in the league this year, Alavés have never beaten Bilbao in thirteen meetings, and once again they were dominated by their more experienced hosts. Their manager Mané went for a more defensive line up for this game, leaving out Javi Moreno to bring in an extra midfielder Azkoitia, with Contra retruning from suspension at right back and Eggen replacing Téllez, who dropped out at the last minute. The oldest man in the Spanish first division, 37 year old Julio Salinas, took over the captain's armband from Karmona for this, his last match in professional football, which by a fortunate coincidence was being played in the ground where he started his career some 21 years ago. Bilbao were also saying goodbye to a couple of old faces, with manager Luis Fernández taking charge for the last time before Txetxu Rojo takes over, and Patxi Ferreira playing his last match as his contract comes to an end. He will apparently be moving to Rayo Vallecano next season, although some reports say that Atlético Madrid would like him back to help them get out of the second division. Any suspicion that Bilbao were going to let their rivals win was soon dissipated, as Javi González forced a fingertip save out of Herrera in the third minute, and Julen Guerrero gave his side the lead with his 100th goal for the club in the twentieth minute. Alavés came close a couple of times before Roy of the Rovers himself, (in the guise of Julio Salinas), proved that fact can be stranger than fiction. If you had read it in a comic you would have said it was rubbish, but just before the break Salinas waited for Torres Mestre's free kick to come over his head before volleying home his 152nd goal in the Spanish first division. Both sets of supporters rose to their feet as referee Puentes Leira, not wanting to spoil the fun, decided for once to overlook the fact that Julito was a couple of yards offside when the kick was taken. Twenty minutes later the old warhorse came off to a rousing standing ovation as did Ferreira more or less at the same time. That was a couple of minutes after Bilbao had retaken the lead, with Julen Guerrero and Javi González once again involved in a move which set up Carlos García in front of goal. Javi Moreno, Kodro and then Salcedo came on as the visitors went for broke, but efforts from Azkoitia, Ibon Begoña and Salcedo were just off target, the latter hitting a post with a shot which went through Lafuente. The 2,000 Alavés fans went home disappointed, but when all is said and done they would have settled for sixth place at the start of the season without a second thought. Bilbao end a disappointing season in eleventh place, but fans still called for the fiery Fernández to come down to the pitch after the match. He ends a period of four years in which they finished second in the league once and played in the Champions League for the first time in their history, and his successor will have his work cut out to better his record. Txetxu Rojo has already made a head start in beating the controversial Luis in the disciplinary department. His sending off this week at Zaragoza means that he will have to watch their first match from the stands, and if the referee's report of physical aggression by Rojo is upheld, the suspension could be extended to several weeks. The best Luis could do was a six game ban. At this rate, Rojo should win the league next season.

Mallorca 1 - Atlético Madrid 2

Mallorca: Leo Franco; Armando (Carlos 60'), Olaizola, Fernando Niño, Miguel Soler; Serrizuela, Engonga, Stankovic; Ibagaza; Diego Tristán, Eto'o. 4-3-1-2.
Atlético: Molina; Mena, Gaspar, Santi, Capdevila; Valerón, Baraja, Paunovic (Roberto 55'), Luque; Solari (Njegus 75'); Hasselbaink (Toni Muñoz 90'). 4-4-1-1.

Team changes: Mallorca: Serrizuela, Engonga for Lauren, Chichi Soler / Atlético: Molina, Mena, Capdevila, Paunovic, Solari for Toni Jiménez, Aguilera, Toni Muñoz, Hugo Leal, Correa.

Goals:
0-1. 05. Paunovic. From close range after Solari corner from right.
1-1. 13. Eto'o. Chested down and shot after return pass from Tristán.
1-2. 30. Solari. Direct free kick from right touchline which everyone missed.

Another change of manager at Atlético Madrid this week, with president Jesus Gil deciding that Radomir Antic was not the man he wanted to take his club back out of the second division next season. Antic had been brought back by legal administrator Luis Manuel Rubí, despite being in a dispute with the club for settlement pay which Gil had refused to pay him. Rubí came to an agreement with the Serbian trainer to pay him a certain amount for the season to compensate his loss of earnings, and he took over. However, a few weeks ago, with the team virtually relegated, the judge decided to replace the administrator with a legal interventor, effectively handing day to day management back to the Gil family. In the end neither Gil nor Antic could save them, and they will be relegated for the first time since 1934 to the second division. Antic's third spell in charge was hardly successful, and after winning their first match they then went four months without a league victory (although they have done better in the cup and reached the final). Gil said he could not pay such a high salary to a manager in the second division and Antic responded that he would do it for free, provided that Gil paid him a bonus if they went back up, and then respected the rest of his contract at the present rates once they were back in the first division. At first Gil accepted, but after unrest amongst the players and continuing poor results, the president finally decided that enough was enough and that Antic had to go. Gil's words the night before he sacked the manager were that 'the poor boy seems to be a bit confused with all the goings on at the moment'. Who isn't? The following day Antic turned up for training only to be told that he was out and that B team manager Fernando Zambrano would be in charge for the last two matches (including the cup final) pending the appointment of a new man. Needless to say, Gil decided that the manager's contract was illegal as it did not contain any reference to what would happen if the team were relegated, and once again has refused to pay out on the severance pay clause, offering a figure around half of the agreed amount (still some 150 million Pesetas). Here we go again! In the meantime, five names appeared in the local press as possible replacements, all of them Spaniards. Oviedo's Luis Aragonés is apparently favourite (another old Atlético war-horse), and others include Barcelona's stand-in Serra Ferrer, Numancia's Goikoetxea, Rayo's Juande Ramos and Sevilla's ex manager Marcos Alonso. Whatever your opinion is, the change did some good, with players already looking as if they were relieved that it was all over at the first training session under Zambrano. At this stage in the season he has to work with the players he has got, and his line up for this weekend's match did not differ greatly from the sides put out by Antic. He only had one chance to get it right for the next Saturday's final though, and the starting eleven here could well be the one that plays in Mestalla, with the possible exception of Hugo Leal, suspended for this match, and Aguilera, if he is fit and available. Back came Molina in goal, and in came Mena at right back and Paunovic in midfield, two players who did not feature much either in Antic's or Ranieri's teams. Zambrano also kept faith with three players he was in charge of in the B team, Baraja, Gaspar and Luque, thinking perhaps about the squad for next year, and Solari played in a position much further forward than he did with Antic. The match was brought forward to Friday as Mallorca were still fighting with Celta for seventh place which would give them the top Spanish spot in the Intertoto cup. Their manager Fernando Vázquez was also fighting, in his case for his job, with his future at the club probably tied to their qualifying for a back door place in Europe. The big surprise in the Mallorca side was the exclusion of Lauren, with Serrizuela taking his place on the right of midfield. After the match Vázquez explained that he had left the Camarooni international out after he announced that he had just signed for Arsenal, although later it did not appear so cut and dried as was previously thought. Right from the start there was an extra spring in the step of the Atlético players, and the visitors took the lead in the fifth minute when Paunovic converted Solari's corner. Mallorca were not expecting this, as they reckoned that Atlético would be demotivated, but they picked their socks up and came back, with Eto'o cutting strongly through the visitors defence to score with a little help from Tristán. Solari was a man on a mission though, and after he swathed through the Mallorca back four before bringing the best out of Leo Franco. A few minutes later he restored Atlético's lead rather fortunately with a long free kick from the right side which Leo Franco completely misjudged, probably put off by Hasselbaink's lunge at the ball with his head. Both keepers produced good saves as the game swung from end to end, and Vazquez put on an extra forward Carlos on the hour mark as news came in that Barcelona had equalised against Celta. Atlético were reduced to ten men near the end as referee Llonch Andreu, (winner of our white stick award this year) gave Baraja a second yellow card, but the result stayed the same. Atlético have new hope for next week's final, looking for a place in Europe next year to top up their income and hold on to their key players. Mallorca drop down to tenth, three places below Celta, and must now decide if they want to take the second spot available to Spanish teams, which means they will enter the earlier round of the Intertoto at the beginning of July. Their fans were less than impressed.