Gimnastic Tarragona 1 - Real Madrid 3

Nàstic: Rubén Pérez; Ruz, Llera, Cáceres, Mingo; Buades, Juan (Carlos Merino 54'); Cuéllar, Pinilla, Gil (Campano 69'); Makukula (Ismael 72'). 4-2-3-1. Madrid: Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Cannavaro, Iván Helguera, Roberto Carlos; Diarra, Emerson; Raúl, Guti (Reyes 73'), Robinho; Van Nistelrooy. 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Nàstic: Rubén Pérez, Ruz, Mingo, Juan, Makukula for Bizzarri, David García, Carlos Merino, Campano, Portillo / Madrid: No change.

Goals:
1-0. 29. Buades (penalty). After Cannavaro tripped Makukula from behind in area.
1-1. 44. Roberto Carlos. Low set-piece free kick which deflected off defender.
1-2. 50. Iván Helguera. Ran in to head Guti corner down past Rubén Pérez.
1-3. 85. Robinho. Got on end of Ramos cross to volley shot back across keeper.

Real Madrid moved up to second, two points behind Barcelona, after coming from behind to beat Gimnàstic Tarragona 1-3. The Catalans were the better side in the first half, with Makukula shooting wide, Cuéllar seeing a dangerous cross deflected just over the bar by a defender, and Gil and Buades both bringing good saves out of Casillas. And they took a deserved lead when Buades converted a penalty after Cannavaro brought down Makukula from behind as he tried to reach Gil's cross on the half hour mark.

Up to that point Madrid had virtually ventured into their opponents' half of the field, but a couple of minutes before half time Van Nistelrooy won a free kick just outside of the area, and the ball was set up for Roberto Carlos to fire in a low shot which deflected off the boot of Makukula past Rubén Pérez, who was making his first division debut in the local goal. And five minutes after the restart the visitors went ahead when Iván Helguera ran in past a static defence to head Guti's corner down in to the net.

Nàstic did their best to get back in to the game, and Pinilla and Ismael both tested Casillas again. But with five minutes to go a quick passing move ended with Sergio Ramos crossing in for Robinho to volley a first time shot back across Rubén, and it was game over. There was still time for the keeper to save a well directed header from Emerson, and for Casillas to get enough on the ball to push Llera's header on to the bar following a corner at the other end. But the capacity crowd had to go home disappointed, and their side will have to spend another week at least in the relegation zone.