Sevilla 2 - Rayo Vallecano 3

Sevilla: Olsen; Héctor, Germán, Tabaré, Juric; Francisco (Víctor 20'), Prieto; Loren, Otero, Jesuli; Zalayeta (Marco 46'). 4-2-3-1.
Rayo: Keller; Cota, Amaya, Hernández, Alcázar; Helder (Estibaríz 60'), Poschner (Michel I 68'), Llorens; Luis Cembranos; Canabal, Bolo (Pablo Sanz 60'). 4-3-1-2.

Team changes: Sevilla: Prieto, Loren Otero for Marchena, Tsartas, Juan Carlos / Rayo: Keller for Lopetegui.

Goals:
0-1. 02. Canabal. Low shot after receiving pass from midfield.
1-1. 14. Jesuli. Picked up bad clearance and his shot took deflection off defender.
1-2. 37. Bolo. Finished off after Canabal squared across goal and Luis dummied.
2-2. 64. Juric. Took pass from Jesuli and lobbed Keller.
2-3. 67. Hernández. Strong header after corner from right by Cembranos.

For the third time this season Sevilla were forced to play a home match away from their own stadium as the disciplinary committee once again fined them for crowd troubles. This time the chosen venue was moved even further away to Extremadura's stadium in Almendralejo, and Sevilla must be thankful that the season has now finished or they could have ended up playing in New York's Shea stadium if this had gone on any longer. Needless to say the turnout for the match was the worst of the season, with only around one thousand people in all, most of whom were local supporters (and 15 members of the Almendralejo branch of the Sevilla supporters club) who were let in free. Sevilla did feel hard done by, especially as no action was taken after the Betis versus Real Madrid match recently, when a metal spanner was thrown on to the pitch. Bad refereeing decisions and biased committee decisions are not however responsible for Sevilla's troubles, and although they were given no time to plan for the season after being unexpectedly promoted in the play offs at the end of June, a big name club such as theirs should have done much better. One consequence of knowing early on that they are going back down is that they have been able to think about next season, and they have already named a new manager Caparrós who is working on the squad. Several players will be leaving, with Hibic and Quevedo definitely going to Atlético Madrid and Rayo Vallecano respectively, Tsartas and Jesuli on the shopping lists of big clubs, and Nando and Moya also probably on their way out. Caretaker manager Juan Carlos Alvarez put together a makeshift side for this game, with Marchena and Olivera suspended and Juan Carlos injured, and club captain Prieto came in for what could be his last game for the club as well. Rayo Vallecano have had their best ever season in the first division, finishing the league in ninth place, and having turned down the chance to register for the Intertoto cup they also had nothing whatsoever to play for. Their boss Juande Ramos was expected to give several players a last match before leaving the club, but eventually opted to keep the same outfield players as the last game, with the only change coming in goal where Kasey Keller took over from Lopetegui. Keller is one who could be on his way after receiving several offers, with Canabal, Ferrón and Cembranos possibly returning to their clubs, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Espanyol respectively after a year on loan, and Dave van den Bergh announcing he will also be leaving. Another who was making his last appearance was referee Manuel Díaz Vega, one of Spain's most well known referees, who will be hanging up his boots after reaching the statutory retirement age. After 25 years at the top level, Díaz Vega has refereed some 70 international matches, and could have hoped that the computer would have given him a fitting fixture to leave the game. Unfortunately the computers' programmers forgot to give their machine an emotions chip (Data, where were you?), and he was handed this non-entity of a match in a far off corner of the country. The players at least did him proud though, scoring a goal for every 200 supporters at the ground (five, for the non-mathematicians amongst you) and not protesting any of his decisions. The lack of pressure meant that both teams played flowing football, and many scoring chances were created throughout the match. Rayo took the lead three times, with Canabal getting the first within two minutes of the kick off, and twice Sevilla pulled back level. Prieto cleared off the line from Cembranos and Keller saved at point blank range from Otero in the first half, and Bolo hit the crossbar early in the second. Alvarez brought on two youngsters, with Víctor coming on for the injured Francisco in the first half, and Marco replacing Zalayeta at the interval. At the end of the match Díaz Vega was congratulated, and everyone went home to begin their summer holidays a little early this year.

Málaga 0 - Racing 0

Málaga: Contreras; Larrainzar, Bravo, Fernando Sanz (Roteta 79'), Valcarce; Ruano (Agostinho 55'), Movilla, De los Santos (Musampa 75'), Sandro; Darío Silva, Catanha. 4-4-2.
Racing: Ceballos; Tais, Txema, Arzeno, Mellberg; Manjarín, Ismael, Espina, Caco Morán; Salva, Rushfeldt. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Málaga: Ruano, Darío Silva for Rufete, Musampa / Racing: Mellberg, Ismael, Caco Morán, Rushfeldt for Sietes, Colsa, Vivar Dorado, Munitis.

Goals: None.

It was billed as the battle of the Pichichis. The league's top scorer Salva came up against the second best Catanha, with the Brazilian needing three to catch his Spanish rival. Maybe both had their mind on other matters, with Monaco claiming to have won the race to sign the Racing striker and Catanha being courted by half the clubs in Europe including Real Madrid, but in the end neither added to their tally as the game petered out to a scoreless draw. Neither team had much to play for, although Málaga still had illusions of qualifying for the Intertoto cup if Mallorca pull out as expected, and to do so they had to at least finish in twelfth place. Their manager Joaquín Peiró was missing his Spanish full and under 21 internationals Rufete and Luque, both suspended, but had Darío Silva back in attack after his one match suspension. He did have one surprise on the bench however, with Ghana's Awuwl Quaye entering the squad for the first time since being signed from Germany in midseason. Racing had secured their place in the first division for next season a few days ago, and their manager Gustavo Benítez decided he could afford the luxury of resting his best player, Munitis, who is almost certain to be called up by Camacho for the Euro 2000 squad next week. Rushfeldt took his place up front alongside Salva. Mellberg returned in defence after a one match ban, replacing the not fully fit Sietes who stayed on the bench alongside Vivar Dorado. Both sides created chances in the first half, with Salva and Catanha going close a couple of times each, and the Racing striker also helped out in defensive duties, clearing a header from De los Santos off the line. Shortly after the interval referee Turienzo Alvarez sent off Txema for a second bookable offence, and from that time on Racing closed ranks, hardly venturing out of their own half for the rest of the match. Catanha tested Ceballos a couple of times, and Valcarce fired off a screamer near the end which grazed the cross bar. In the last minute Turienzo reduced Racing to nine men, sending off keeper Ceballos for handling outside of the area. With three substitutes already on the park, Neru, Shustikov and Bestnottomentionhisnameagain, Tais took over in goal for the last few moments of the match, but Málaga were not going to score. In the end they achieved their objective though, finishing in twelfth place, and they now await news from Mallorca to see whether they have to come back from their holidays early. Their season has not finished yet however. On Saturday they play a friendly against Farense in Faro, Portugal, and they will complete a brief tour of that country before taking their leave. Peiró's job in the next few weeks is to keep his squad together, with Rufete due to sign for Atlético Madrid and Valcarce probably going to Valencia. If Catanha leaves as well, they would like to sign Mallorca's Eto'o, currently on loan from Real Madrid with whom the South coast team have close links. Benítez will have similar problems, with Munitis getting close to signing for Valencia and Salva also attracting interest from Deportivo as well as Monaco. In a few days time we will be opening our transfer pages again, so you can keep up to date with the latest news. Don't go away just yet......