An injury to our leading Zamora, Toni Prats of Betis, has left the door wide open for Cañizares to win the trophy for the second year in a row. Prats has been suffering from back problems and misses the last two games of the season, with Belgian international Ronnie Gaspercic taking over for the first time since joining last summer. Cañizares was one of seven keepers to keep a clean sheet this weekend, and this was one of the more important ones of his career as Valencia went on to win the league title for the first time since 1971. Prats' injury spoils what was going to be a fascinating duel in the last match of the season between the two sides, although his Betis team mates can still give him the title if they can put two or more past the first choice Spanish international. His absence also means that there are now only two ever-present keepers this season, Valladolid's Ricardo and Villarreal's López Vallejo, although neither feature in our chart having let in too many goals.

Mallorca's Leo Franco was let off a one match ban when the disciplinary committee cancelled his red card from last week, and he kept his place under caretaker manager Tomeu Llompart as his side held out for a priceless point in a 0-0 draw in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. In fact only some superb saves by Real Madrid keeper César kept the scores level, and his form is such that young Iker Casillas is getting restless on the substitutes' bench. Casillas will still go to the World Cup though, probably with Cañizares and Ricardo. Clean sheets by Bonano for Barcelona and Molina for Deportivo helped their respective teams move closer to a place in the Champions League next season, Julio Iglesias recovered from the five he let in last week to keep out neighbours Las Palmas and keep Tenerife in with a chance of survival, and Rayo's Etxeberria put in another sterling performance, saving a penalty as his side won 0-1 at Alavés. Bilbao keeper Lafuente was expected to return at Bilbao, but in the end Heynckes opted to keep Aranzubia between the sticks despite letting in four last week. Better luck next season. (06.05.02)