Madrid: Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster hailed the champion spirit of his team after they ground out a 1-0 win over Real Murcia despite playing 70 minutes of the match with ten men after Miguel Torres was sent off for a crude challenge.

Dutch international Wesley Sneijder scored the all-important goal on 59 minutes as Real surged nine points clear of Barcelona and ten of Villarreal yesterday.

"After the red card we still went for the victory and winning with one man less is commendable," said Real coach Bernd Schuster. "It is not easy finding space especially with ten men and I am happy with the result and how my team played.

Murcia started with a 4-5-1 formation to put a bottleneck in front of Real and Schuster responded with Robinho and Arjen Robben on the flanks to supply lone striker Raul.

But Schuster's game plan was ruined on 19 minutes when Torres produced a foolish tackle from behind earning him a straight red card.

Murcia, second from bottom in the standings, made their extra man count at times but were indecisive in front of goal showing why they average less than a goal a game.

Real were jeered at half-time by their demanding home fans but winnning is all the most important thing and Sneijder's goal lifted the gloom.

Villarreal lost 1-0 against Almeria to make it a perfect weekend for Real.

The Yellow Submarine had goalkeeper Diego Lopez sent off on 16 minutes and fell victim to a late goal as they spurned the chance to go above Barcelona into second.

With Barcelona seemingly incapable of killing teams off they drew 2-2 with Recreativo Huelva on Saturday after twice going ahead, Real look set to retain the league although it has been far from a high-quality title race.

Real will be in the Champions League next season, almost certainly with Barcelona and Villarreal, but there is a thrilling three-way battle for fourth and the final spot.

Atletico Madrid currently hold the holy grail of fourth yesterday.

A late equaliser from substitute Bartholomew Ogbeche denied Atletico the points and weakened their grasp on fourth.

Racing Santander are now just a point behind Atletico and Sevilla closed to within three points of the capital club courtesy of a 3-2 win over Real Mallorca.

Brazilians Renato and Daniel Alves were on target along with Frederic Kanoute as Sevilla make a late sprint for the Champions League.

For Getafe the league has low priority and they prepared for Wednesday's Kings Cup final against Valencia with a 0-0 draw against Real Zaragoza yesterday.

It is a second successive cup final for Getafe as they look for some silverware and a place in Europe to make up for the disappointment of their painful UEFA Cup quarter-final loss to Bayern Munich.

Zaragoza stay in the bottom three and are three points from safety.

Levante won 1-0 at Real Betis but still prop up the table and are 15 points from safety with 18 available.

Ten games ago Espanyol were third and challenging for a Champions League spot but now a UEFA Cup spot is looking a tall order after a 1-0 loss at Osasuna.

Source : PTI