The first round of play-off games began this weekend, with four games brought forward to Friday night to be televised. The biggest surprise was in group D, where Real Madrid B were beaten 4-1 by Almería. The Madrid youngsters took the lead through Valdo in the first half, but their opponents scored four times after the break to turn the result around. The man who did the damage at first had the same name as Real Madrid's star Raúl, scoring twice including one from the penalty spot, and Ortíz and Francisco added two more later on.

Mérida won the group B battle between two ex first division sides, beating Compostela 1-0. The locals, who were reformed from the B team when their first team went bankrupt, scored early on with a Pinto header and held on for almost an hour with ten men after Mario got sent off. The Compostela players made a public protest before the game as they had gone four months without being paid.

Terrassa followed up their victory over Barcelona in the final of the Catalunya cup with a 1-0 victory over Barakaldo in group C. The home side dominated the Basques for much of the game, and took the lead when Monty headed home a corner just after the restart. The striker had made a brief appearance for Catalunya against Brazil midweek.

Cup giant killers Hospitalet got off to a good start with a 1-1 draw in their group A game at Getafe. The Madrid based side were looking to return to the second division A at the first attempt, and took the lead through Mora on the stroke of half time after failing to convert several chances earlier on. However they let the Catalans off the hook in the second half, and substitute Navarro headed the equaliser only a minute after coming on. (24.05.02)

Two more games played on Saturday evening, with the two second teams Valencia B and Barcelona B drawing 2-2 in group B. A good crowd turned up at the Mestalla stadium, and they saw Sergio González give their team an early lead. Babangida equalised almost immediately though, and after Barça keeper Víctor Valdés saved a penalty from Jandro, Nano put the visitors ahead. Valencia keeper Rangel made important saves from Babangida and Iniesta after the break though, and in the last minute the home side equalised from a second penalty, this time Jandro beating Víctor with his kick.

Cultural Leonesa beat Motril 0-1 in their first game of the play-offs to move to the top of group C. The South coast side were making their first ever appearance in the final stages, and their nerves got the better of them as they failed to capitalise on a number of chances. Cultural were prepared to play a waiting game looking to score on the counter attack, and Fran got the winner on the hour mark with virtually their first shot at goal. (25.05.02)

Pontevedra beat Espanyol B 3-1 in their group D match to share top spot with Almería. Capi gave the Gallician side the lead in the twelfth minute, and they were only prevented from going further ahead by a magnificent performance by keeper Miranda. However Spanish under 19 captain Jarque was sent off for the visitors midway through the second half, and Capi eventually scored a second eight minutes from the end. Luismi pulled one back almost immediately, but Tonino restored the two goal lead in the fifth minute of injury time after Miranda went walk about.

Ceuta and Hércules met later on Sunday night in the Spanish enclave in North Africa. The group A game ended in a 0-0 draw, a good result for the Alicante based side. (26.05.02)