Zaragoza 0 - Valladolid 0

Zaragoza: Juanmi; Pablo, Paco, Aguado, Rebosio, Vellisca (Ferrón 72'); Acuña, Garitano (Acuña 62'), Montenegro; Juanele, Yordi (Peternac 72'). 5-3-2.
Valladolid: Ricardo; Torres Gómez, García Calvo, Peña, Heinze, Marcos; Fernando Sales (Chema 90'), Eusebio, Turiel; Ciric (Caminero 77'), Kaviedes (Alberto 62'). 5-3-2.

Team changes: Zaragoza: Rebosio, Garitano, Montenegro for Cuartero, José Ignacio, Jamelli / Valladolid: Fernando Sales, Ciric for Richetti, Pachón.

Goals: None.

Zaragoza's caretaker manager Luis Costa took over the reins at Zaragoza for the fifth time in his long career after the sacking of manager Juanma Lillo, but he was unable to give his side their first victory of the season. By one of those strange twists of fate, Lillo could well have been managing their opponents today, having turned down an offer by Valladolid to take up the post with the Aragón club. The man who finally took over at Valladolid, Pancho Ferraro, is putting together one of their best ever starts to the season, and Valladolid's five match unbeaten run (including this game) is their best since 1951, when they went 10 games without a loss. The draw today also kept another record intact, Zaragoza never having lost at home to Valladolid in the history of the club.

Zaragoza have been looking for a replacement for Lillo, and they have recently been trying to entice Athletic Bilbao's old manager Luis Fernández to join them. In the meantime Costa rang in the changes, bringing in two new signings, Rebosio and Montenegro, for their first league starts with the club. Ferraro gave Fernando Sales his first start in place of the injured Richetti, and surprisingly brought in another new signing Ciric in an unfamiliar striker's role in place of Pachón. The position could well have gone to Cuauhtémoc Blanco, but the on-loan Mexican forward was injured badly in a tackle playing for his country the week before and underwent emergency knee surgery immediately on returning to Spain. So bad is his injury that he is not expected to play again this season, and the club have asked América de México for an extension to the six month purchase option to give him time to recover.

The game itself was a boring affair, with home fans whistling at their own players in the second half for their lack of imagination. Valladolid were the better side throughout and were unlucky not to walk away with the three points after several chances were wasted. Colombian striker Kaviedes was guilty of two howling misses, one in each half, when he failed to score with only the keeper to beat, and Paco cleared off the line from another effort from Ciric early on in the game. Zaragoza's best player was Montenegro, and he brought a good save out of the league's current top keeper Ricardo before driving another shot just over the crossbar. Both manager's changed their forwards during the second half, with Peternac coming on for Yordi for the home side and Alberto replacing Kaviedes for the visitors, but they had as little success as their colleagues.

The draw leaves Zaragoza down in next to last place, with only three points in five games. They now have a difficult game at Valencia next week, and having been knocked out of Europe they will have to sit and watch as the other clubs play midweek. Valladolid are in a respectable ninth position, one of only three undefeated teams, together with leaders Real Madrid and Rayo Vallecano. Their strength this season is in defence, having only let in two goals in their five games.