Espanyol 1 - Valencia 0

Espanyol: Mora; Cristóbal, Soldevilla, Pochettino, Roger; Navas, Galca, Sergio, Iván Díaz; Martín Posse (De Lucas 75'), Oscar (Serrano 70'). 4-4-2.
Valencia: Cañizares; Ayala, Djukic, Björklund, Carboni; Mendieta, Milla (Angulo 70'), Baraja, Kily González; Juan Sánchez (Diego Alonso 77'), Carew. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Espanyol: Soldevilla, Navas, Oscar for Nando, Toni Velamazán, Tamudo / Valencia: Milla for Deschamps.

Goals:
1-0. 81. Serrano. Shot which keeper got a hand to after De Lucas centred from left.

Valencia lost their first league game since the opening match of the season, but still stay top thanks to the defeats of their closest rivals. Espanyol are becoming one of their bogey teams, and the leaders have not won against them in Barcelona since the 1988/9 season, losing seven and drawing two in that time. This time they lost the match themselves, losing the initiative in the second half after dominating the first. Héctor Cúper (recently linked with Lazio as a possible substitute for Erksson) was missing six of his first team squad through injury, Deschamps, Zahovic, Pellegrino, Angloma, Ilie and Gerardo, although the only one who started in the last match was Deschamps, and he was replaced by Milla. Paco Flores could not count on the suspended Tamudo, so included Oscar up front who was especially motivated having failed to hold down a place at Valencia last season. Soldevilla returned in the middle of the defence after a long injury, and Navas came in on the right side of midfield to try and stop the dangerous Kily González.

The best crowd of the season, over 20,000 people, watched their team record their third home victory in a row. However it didn't look like they were going to win at the beginning, as Valencia took charge of the match, with Mendieta and Carew seeing efforts saved by Mora. In fact the Espanyol keeper kept his side in the game in the first half as they looked for a way to their opponents goal. In the second half the roles were reversed, and spectators in the left hand side goal would have been justified in asking for their money back as the grass on that side remained virtually untouched throughout the game. Iván Díaz started to find gaps down his wing, with Ayala out of position at right back, although now it was the turn of Cañizares to shine, keeping out Oscar more than once.

With a quarter of the game to go Flores introduced changes up front, Serrano and De Lucas coming on for Posse and Oscar, and nine minutes from time they linked up for Serrano to beat the Valencia keeper for the first and only time. Valencia were beaten once again, and must wait for next season to record their first victory in the Montjuic stadium. Espanyol are starting to recover after their bad start to the season, and if they can hold on to their best players for this season they could repeat last year's success. Rumours that they owed players back pay were strongly denied by club president Daniel Sanchez Llibre, although they are struggling financially and may have to let someone go in the winter.