First Division - Day 10

Real Madrid 1 - Zaragoza 0

Madrid: Casillas; Michel Salgado, Pavón, Woodgate (Mejía 23'), Roberto Carlos; Beckham, Diogo (Soldado 61'), Sergio Ramos, Guti; Robinho (Raúl Bravo 89'), Raúl. 4-4-2.
Zaragoza: César; Ponzio, Gabriel Milito, Alvaro, Toledo; Generelo (Zapater 74'), Celades (Movilla 80'); Cani (Oscar González 80'), Ewerthon, Savio; Diego Milito. 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Madrid: Pavón, Beckham for Iván Helguera, Pablo García / Zaragoza: Alvaro, Generelo, Celades for Chus Herrero, Zapater, Movilla.

Goals:
1-0. 78. Roberto Carlos (penalty). After Robinho pulled down by Ponzio in area.

Real Madrid held on to third place after a 1-0 win over Zaragoza, although it was not a convincing victory and it took two penalties for them to do so. Luxemburgo's injury problems continued, aggravated by a one match ban for Pablo García, and the coach packed his bench with B team players. And things got worst midway through the first half when Woodgate, who had headed just wide the best chance of the match a few minutes earlier, limped off with a leg muscle injury. Up to that point only Robinho had caused any problems for returning keeper César, and the first half finished almost without incident.

The game only started to liven up though after the restart, when Raúl headed a Beckham cross just wide of the target. The visitors almost went ahead at the other end though when Diego Milito picked up a pass from Savio and bounced a shot against the crossbar. For the next few minutes Casillas had to be at his best to keep out the Zaragoza attack. But with a quarter of an hour to go Robinho picked up a pass from Guti and was pulled over in the area by Toledo. The Brazilian striker insisted on taking the kick himself, but César (who had been playing with an injury since the first half) dived to his right and saved the kick.

Just three minutes later though referee Muñiz Fernández pointed to the spot for a second time when Robinho went down again under a challenge from Ponzio, and the youngster picked up the ball again. But between Roberto Carlos and Luxemburgo they persuaded him not to take the kick himself, and Roberto Carlos stepped up to drill a shot past the keeper. There was still time for Movilla to test Casillas for a last time, but there was no way through. Madrid had the three points in the bag, and they go in to the big derby game with Barcelona just one point behind them.