Zaragoza held by Madrid
Monday, May 12, 2008

Real Zaragoza slipped into the La Liga relegation zone after a tremendously entertaining 2-2 draw at home to champions Real Madrid.

Zaragoza took the lead in the first half through Ricardo Oliveira only for Ruud van Nistelrooy to equalise shortly afterwards.

Robinho put Real ahead against the run of play with 13 minutes remaining before Sergio Fernandez equalised, and visiting goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek had to produce some stunning saves in the closing stages to keep the increasingly desperate home side at bay.

Zaragoza took to the field just a point above the relegation zone and began brightly, with Oliveira, the very impressive Sergio Garcia and Diego Milito going close before Oliveira touched home Garcia's low cross in the 19th minute to put them ahead.

Blanquillos goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez had turned away a fierce Gonzalo Higuain effort shortly before the opening goal, but on 26 minutes he was powerless to prevent Real levelling when his save from Robinho's shot was followed up by Van Nistelrooy.

Cesar kept his side in the game with two stunning point-blank saves from Sergio Ramos in quick succession, before Oliveira saw a shot cleared off the line at the other end after a weak attempt by Dudek to clear a cross from the left.

Zaragoza playmaker Pablo Aimar guided a header just off-target shortly before the break, and he twice went close in the early stages of the second period, first drawing a save from Dudek with a run and shot before seeing a diving header deflected against the crossbar by Ramos.

The game opened up completely as both sides sought to get forward at every opportunity, with Dudek producing a fine save to tip Sergio's header over the crossbar before some superb defending from Roberto Ayala denied Van Nistelrooy a second.

Zaragoza began to lay almost constant siege to the visitors' goal, but on 77 minutes Higuain released Robinho down the Real left and he drew the goalkeeper from his line before beautifully scooping the ball inside the far post.

Sergio wasted a glorious chance to level with 10 minutes to go when he thrashed a shot over the crossbar from six yards, but he made amends moments later with a composed finish inside the left-hand post after being teed up by Oliveira.

The home side poured forward in the game's closing stages but Dudek pulled off a string of breath-taking stops to ensure they could not find the goal that would have taken them out of the bottom three ahead of their trip to Mallorca on the season's final day.