The action spurred Madrid into life and it restored its lead in style nine minutes later. Beckham floated a pass upfield to Zidane, who was lurking on the left, and the Frenchman delivered a swift cross for Ronaldo to power the ball home with a volley. Betis battled back in a vain search of an equalizer, with Madrid's outstanding goalkeeper Iker Casillas forced to make two saves from Spanish international winger Joaquin Sanchez.
In Bilbao, FC Barcelona's Phillip Cocu headed in a pass from Giovanni van Bronckhorst, transferred on loan this week from Arsenal, in the 12th minute to win 1-0 against Athletic Bilbao. But Barcelona played rather poorly and the Basque side missed a lot of scoring opportunities.
Valencia fell behind in the 24th minute as Valladolid's Francisco David Sousa outran several defenders and dodged goalkeeper Santi Canizares to make it 1-0.
Valencia equalized in the 77th minute on a goal by Pablo Aimar as 'keeper Albano Bizzari dove and only managed to deflect a ball he could have stopped. After the game some Valencia fans whistled in disgust with their team.
Espanyol fought to a 1-1 draw with Real Sociedad -- the dark horse which led the Spanish league for much of last year only to lose the title on the last day of the season.
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