Madrid fight back to floor Cádiz

Two magnificent free-kicks by Roberto Carlos and David Beckham and a Robinho strike allowed Real Madrid CF to come from behind to record a 3-1 Primera División victory at home against Cádiz CF, while city rivals Club Atlético de Madrid earned a long-awaited victory of their own.

Home domination
Although they were without a number of players due to injury - including Raúl González, Ronaldo, Pablo Garcia, Míchel Salgado and Jonathan Woodgate - the home side dominated the first half, with Robinho a lively presence in attack, Sergio Ramos, Julio Baptista and Robinho twice all going close. The visitors did create some chances of their own, however, Benjamìn Zarandona forcing a fine save from Iker Casillas on the half-hour and the Spanish international reacted even quicker to repel a deflected effort from Alexander Medina on the stroke of half-time.

Medina's moment
Medina again almost put the visitors ahead with a spectacular overhead kick on 51 minutes but at his third attempt the Cádiz striker did score. Fabián Estoyanoff raced down the right wing and crossed and, although Medina and Nenad Mirosavljevic both had efforts blocked, the ball fell kindly for Medina to score his fifth goal of the season. The lead only lasted six minutes, though, as Madrid responded with two free-kicks in quick succession.

Free-kick flurry
Roberto Carlos struck the first on 56 minutes with an unstoppable drive from 20 metres out and, three minutes later, from an almost identical position, David Beckham curled a wonderful shot into the top right-hand corner of the net. Seven minutes from time Robinho put the match beyond doubt, meeting Zidane's through-ball a delightful long shot. The result lifts Madrid to third place, level on points with Valencia CF who travel to Real Betis Balompié tomorrow.

Atlético revenge
Club Atlético de Madrid gained revenge over Real Zaragoza in the third meeting between the two sides in a fortnight with a much-needed win at La Romareda. Atlético, who were knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Víctor Muñoz's men's on Wednesday night, ended Zaragoza's six-match unbeaten run and registered their first victory in eleven league games thanks to goals from Maxi Rodríguez and Fernando Torres. Maxi scored after 27 minutes and was brought down by Zaragoza goalkeeper César Sánchez on the hour, Torres converting the resulting penalty.