Albacete 1 - Real Madrid 2

Albacete: Almunia; Oscar Montiel, Pablo, Buades, Peña; David Sánchez (Parri 55'), Alvaro Rubio (Viaud 66'); Redondo, Pacheco, Munteanu; Fabiano Costa (Mikel 55'). 4-2-3-1.
Real Madrid: Casillas; Michel Salgado, Mejía, Raúl Bravo, Roberto Carlos; Beckham, Guti (Borja 68'); Figo, Raúl, Zidane (Solari 78'); Ronaldo (Antonio Nuñez 87'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Albacete: David Sánchez, Redondo, Pacheco, Munteanu for Fernando Navarro, Siviero, Basti, Mikel / Madrid: Mejía, Figo for Iván Helguera, Solari.

Goals:
0-1. 19. Roberto Carlos. Low free kick which deflected in off Montiel's foot.
0-2. 71. Figo. Deflected Roberto Carlos free kick into net with forearm.
1-2. 82. Parri. Struck shot from outside of area which bounced past Casillas.

Real Madrid moved four points clear at the top pending Sunday's games after a 1-2 win over Albacete. Once again though it was not a convincing victory, and it took two goals from deflected Roberto Carlos free kicks for them to come away with the three points. The first came twenty minutes in to the first half, the ball bouncing off the foot of Montiel to put off Almunia as Figo made space in the defensive wall. Guti and Beckham both tested the keeper before the break with long shots which were turned away for corners, and Ronaldo (who had burst the ball with a shot earlier in the game) almost caught Almunia out with a dipping shot after a powerful run past three defenders.

Casillas had to be at his best though to save from Pacheco and Mikel headers either side of half time, and if the home side had not failed in the final pass on two or three other occasions (thanks in part to good work from Mejía) they could have been level. But then Roberto Carlos struck again, this time his kick controversially hitting Figo on the arm before entering the net. Referee Ramírez Domínguez either didn't see the incident or decided it was involuntary and turned down the appeals from the local players, but he did award the goal to the Portuguese midfielder. Parri pulled one back with a long shot which bounced awkwardly in front of Casillas, and Pacheco came close to levelling the scores with a shot over the bar late on. But this time the luck of champions was on the side of Madrid, and they came away with three points which they probably didn't deserve.