Celta 0 - Real Madrid 1

Celta: Cavallero (Pinto 73'); Coira, Cáceres, Méndez, Sylvinho; Luccin, Giovanella; Edu, Mostovoi, Gustavo López (Jesuli 76'); Catanha. 4-2-3-1.
Real Madrid: César; Michel Salgado, Iván Helguera, Pavón, Roberto Carlos; Makelele, Flavio Conceiçao (Solari 60'); McManaman, Zidane (Geremi 89'), Raúl; Morientes (Guti 60'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Celta: Méndez, Luccin, Edu, Gustavo López, Catanha for Sergio, Doriva, Karpin, Jesuli, Maurice / Madrid: César, Iván Helguera, Flavio Conceiçao, Raúl for Casillas, Hierro, Solari, Guti.

Goals:
0-1. 81. Raúl. Beat Pinto with glancing header from Zidane's cross from left.

Real Madrid moved back to the top of the table with a narrow 0-1 victory over Celta. The league champions put in another disappointing display away from home, but once again Raúl and Zidane made the difference, creating a goal out of nothing near the end to take the three points. Del Bosque surprised everyone with his initial line up, leaving Casillas on the bench and keeping César in goal after his good performance in the Champions League midweek, and nobody knows whether he was just resting the young keeper for next Wednesday's cup final or if the change was more permanent. With Hierro suspended and Karanka injured, Iván Helguera moved back to the defence, with Flavio coming in to midfield. Víctor Fernández gave new signing Méndez a first start after Sergio dropped out with flu at the last minute. He was however missing the suspended Doriva and Karpin, although it could have been worse if last week's referee Pérez Burrull had his way. The disciplinary committee had overturned the red card for Mostovoi and a fifth yellow for Cáceres, and with the ruling on the Catanha's spitting incident put off for another week all three were able to play. There were protests about the referee's performance though, with red cards distributed amongst the crowd for them to show when the officials came out and chants over the megaphone system.

Apart from a shot by Morientes early on, Madrid hardly troubled Cavallero in the home goal. Celta though failed to take advantage of their superiority in midfield, and César only had to make a couple of relatively easy saves in a dull first half. Giovanella shot just over the bar and Gustavo López went close with a shot into the side netting after the break, but they continued to show the lack of fire power that has only brought them one goal in their last four games. Cavallero had to leave the field with a shoulder injury after clashing with Zidane, and Víctor surprisingly took off his best player Gustavo López to bring on Jesuli, instead of replacing the ineffective Edu, who had been having back trouble all week. Solari and Guti came on for the visitors, and it was Guti who found Zidane on the left for him play the ball across goal. Cáceres seemed to have it covered, but Raúl stole in to head wide of Pinto, and Madrid had their first league victory since the eighth of December. It was also their first win in the Balaidos stadium in six years after five defeats in a row, and leaves Celta down in sixth place. Not a bad night's work for Madrid, and just what they wanted to set them up for Wednesday night's centenary celebrations and they hope their second trophy of the season.