AC Milan 4 - Deportivo La Coruña 1

Milan: Dida; Cafu, Costacurta, Maldini, Pancaro (Serginho 72'); Gattuso, Pirlo, Kaká, Seedorf; Shevchenko (Tomasson 84'), Inzaghi (Ambrosini 79'). 4-4-2.
Deportivo: Molina; Scaloni, Andrade, Naybet, Capdevila; Duscher (Fran 66'), Mauro Silva; Sergio (Manuel Pablo 81'), Valerón, Luque (Diego Tristán 83'); Pandiani. 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
0-1. 11. Pandiani. Header on near post from Capdevila's left sided cross.
1-1. 45. Kaká. Controlled cross on left knee and struck shot past Molina with right.
2-1. 46. Shevchenko. Turned Mauro Silva and shot low across Molina.
3-1. 49. Kaká. Picked up short pass from Seedorf and fired shot into bottom corner.
4-1. 53. Pirlo. Free kick over defensive wall which Molina was unable to keep out.

A crushing defeat for Deportivo La Coruña at the hands of reigning champions AC Milan left the Spaniards with a foot and a half out of the competition. Javier Irureta's side were quietly confident after knocking out last season's runners-up Juventus in the last round, and got off to the best possible start when Pandiani shook off his markers to head home Capdevila's cross with just over ten minutes on the clock.

But Kaká levelled the scores with a well struck goal on the stroke of half time, and Depor just fell apart. Shevchenko made it two only twenty seconds after the restart, and Kaká got his second of the night just three minutes later. And with the Galicians still reeling, Pirlo bent a free kick past Molina to complete the rout. Depor now need to win by three clear goals in the second leg in a fortnight's time, a feat which is probably beyond them on tonight's showing.