Zaragoza 3 - Numancia 1

Zaragoza: Juanmi; Cuartero, Aguado, Paco, Pablo; Toro Acuña, José Ignacio; Juanele (Aragón 75'), Jamelli, Vellisca; Yordi (Peternac 89'). 4-2-3-1.
Numancia: Raúl; Manel, Antía (David Pirri 46'), Marini, Jaume; Iñaki, Nagore, Pacheta (Ojeda 55'), José Manuel; Rosu (Gustavo 64'), Rubén Navarro. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Zaragoza: Cuartero, Juanele for Lanna, Montenegro / Numancia: No change.

Goals:
1-0. 08. Yordi. Spectacular volley after long centre from Cuartero on right wing.
2-0. 24. Yordi. Half hir overhead kick which ran past keeper after Jamelli pass.
3-0. 50. Aguado. Tap in on far post after everyone missed ball in from right.
3-1. 76. José Manuel. Picked up ball outside area and shot low past Juanmi.

The match between Zaragoza and Numancia was overshadowed by the brutal assassination of Manuel Giménez Abad, president of the Aragón branch of the ruling Partido Popular, who was shot in the back of the head by ETA terrorists as he was making his way to the ground with his son. The news filtered through the crowd during the match, and at half time a quickly organised minute of silence was observed which made the football fairly irrelevant after that. Zaragoza won the game fairly comfortably with three goals in the first fifty minutes of the game to take them comfortably up to mid-table and leave Numancia floundering at the bottom of the table.

The star of the first half was Yordi, who was only in the side as a result of an injury to Esnaider which is taking longer than expected to heal, and the young striker took advantage to score twice, the first a spectacular first time volley from Cuartero's cross and the second an overhead kick which caught Raúl off guard as it ran slowly in to the net. Acuña almost scored a third just before the break, Raúl hanging on to his powerful shot at the second attempt, but Aguado made it three shortly after the break tidying up on the far post after Yordi failed to connect with Juanele's cross.

García Remón made three changes to try and get back in the game, and José Manuel pulled one back with a low shot from outside of the area. But it was never going to be enough, and Soria based team go two points adrift at the bottom. In the days following the game the Numancia board decided to fire the manager, with his number two Celestino Vallejo taking over as caretaker until the end of the season. His first game is against relegation rivals Osasuna next week, and if they don't win that one then their days in the top flight are numbered. Zaragoza go thirteenth, but nobody was celebrating. Some things are more important than football.