The goals dried up at the weekend as teams entered into that nervous part of the season when nobody wants to lose, and the thirteen scored in the ten league games was the lowest total for nine years. Only two of our Pichichis added to their totals, Real Sociedad's Nihat with his fourteenth of the season against Racing, and Deportivo's Roy Makaay, who made it twenty in the league and thirty in all with a first half penalty against Rayo. He almost didn't get to take it though as Diego Tristán once again tried to pull rank, and only the intervention of team captain Mauro Silva persuaded Tristán to hand the ball over to his colleague.

The European games did produce a lot of goals though, with Makaay and Tristán both getting their names on the scoresheet this time. Little good it did them though, as they lost to Juventus and are now out of the competition. The star this week though was Raúl with two against AC Milan, the first of which made him the first player to score 40 goals in the Champions League. He also had a hand in the third goal, scored by super-sub Guti. Saviola kept up his good record under Radomir Antic with his sixth goal in European games, and Dely Valdés made it ten with his goal which gives a Málaga the advantage in their UEFA cup quarter final against Boavista. (18.03.03)