Real Madrid 0 - Sevilla 1

Madrid: Casillas; Michel Salgado, Samuel, Iván Helguera, Raúl Bravo; Beckham (Ronaldo 46'), Guti; Figo, Raúl, Zidane; Owen (Solari 60'). 4-2-3-1.
Sevilla: Esteban; Sergio Ramos, Javi Navarro, Pablo Ruiz, David; Martí, Renato (Casquero 93'); Daniel Alves, Baptista, Jesuli (Jordi 80'); Carlitos (Jesús Navas 60'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Madrid: Beckham for Javi García / Sevilla: Pablo Ruiz for Aitor Ocio.

Goals:
0-1. 19. Baptista. Ran on to headed pass and held off Samuel to score.

Another disastrous game for Real Madrid, who were knocked out of the Champions League spots by opponents Sevilla after losing 0-1 in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. The newly appointed director of football Arrigo Sacchi was in the stands to watch the "Galacticos" in their last game of the year, but once again they were short of ideas against a well-knit team who could have won by a bigger margin in the end.

García Remón had surprised everyone leaving Ronaldo on the bench, even though he had recovered from the injury which kept him out of the last game, and also dropped Roberto Carlos from the squad completely. That meant that Michael Owen partnered Raúl again up front, and the England striker did test Esteban with a weak shot early on. But with twenty minutes on the clock the visitors took the lead, Baptista controlling a long ball out of defence which Jesuli had headed on to hold off Samuel and beat Casillas.

Sevilla could have increased the lead a few minutes later, Casillas doing well to save from Daniel Alves and then from Carlitos, and Jesuli putting another chance wide, and soon after the restart Helguera headed off the line from Jesuli after a goalmouth scramble following a corner. Baptista should also have scored again, shooting wide and then seeing another effort saved by the keeper, and soon afterwards referee Pérez Lasa waved away an appeal for a penalty on the Brazilian forward (as he had done late in the first half for a foul on Owen).

García Remón had brought on Ronaldo at the break, replacing David Beckham and shuffling his players around, and the centre forward did get the ball in the net only for the strike to be ruled out as Raúl was in an offside position. But otherwise the players were looking out of sorts, and an unhappy crowd left the ground so early that some commentators thought there had been another bomb scare. Arrigo stayed on until the end, realizing that he has a lot of work to do in the next few weeks.