Celta 1 - Málaga 0

Celta: Pinto; Coira, Cáceres, Yago, Velasco (Noguerol 89'); Karpin, Giovanella; Edu, Mostovoi, Gustavo López (Tomás 80'); Catanha (McCarthy 64'). 4-2-3-1.
Málaga: Contreras; Ruano, Bravo, Roteta, Larrainzar (Agostinho 88'), Valcarce; De los Santos, Movilla, Zárate (Edgar 69'); Darío Silva, Dely Valdés. 5-3-2.

Team changes: Celta: Coira, Edu, Mostovoi, Gustavo López for Djorovic, Manolo, Doriva, McCarthy / Málaga: No change.

Goals:
1-0. 57. Mostovoi. From close range after Giovanella shot ballooned off defence.

It was billed as the duel of the centre forwards, the past and the present, with Catanha playing against his old side Málaga for the first time since his summer transfer, and his replacement Dely Valdés lining up against him. Celta and Catanha had gone off steam in recent games, with the team only winning once in the last five games after starting as early leaders, and Catanha appearing more in the referee's book than in the goalscoring chart. But the crowd were more interested in the return of the Tzar, Alexander Vladimirovitch Mostovoi, who was returning after a bout of injuries and bad luck, and he was cheered onto the pitch by his supporters. He was joined in the line up by Edu, the young Brazilian making his first start after impressing in the last two games, and also Coira, stepping in after serious injuries to defenders Djorovic and Manolo in the last game. Málaga manager Joaquín Peiró left things as they were after their victory against Osasuna on Wednesday night.

As the teams were warming up a funny thing happened (funny strange that is). Referee Losantos Omar injured his back, and could not go on, so fourth referee Rodríguez Costa had to take over. There was one problem, Rodríguez was from La Coruña in Gallicia, not only the home town of Celta's hated rivals Deportivo, but also in the same region as Vigo, and there was some debate as to whether he could actually officiate. Eventually Celta reluctantly agreed, there being little alternative, and the man who normally referees games in the second division B made his premature debut in the first division. Did he unduly influence proceedings, well read on, but in the end his errors, which were not too serious to be fair, probably balanced each other out. The game itself did not really live up to its billing, with Celta marginally the better side of the two. Neither Catanha nor Dely Valdés could get near their opponents goal, and Víctor Fernández pulled the Hispano-Brazilian off half way through the second half. Edu was a constant threat, and he went close to scoring on a couple of occasions, firstly just failing to get on the end of Karpin's cross, and then sending a header against the post.

Just before the hour mark Celta scored, and appropriately enough it was the Tzar who got it. There was more than a faint whiff of offside though, the ball ballooning up and falling to Mostovoi in front of goal after Giovanella's shot was blocked by a defender. Did the Málaga man play him on? Rodríguez thought so and awarded the goal, much to the chagrin of the Málaga players. Edgar then joined Dely Valdés and Darío Silva in a three pronged Málaga attack. They were given a helping hand a few minutes later by the referee, who rather heavy-handedly sent off Mostovoi after booking him twice in eight minutes for time wasting. The second yellow card appeared over the top, Mostovoi having only just been handed the ball when Rodríguez cautioned him. In the end it was academic, although the Russian will presumably miss the next league match at Bilbao in a week's time. The win takes Celta back up to sixth place, a welcome boost given their difficult UEFA cup home leg against Red Star on Thursday night, where they have to turn around a 1-0 result from the first game in Belgrade. Málaga are now in mid-table, where they shall probably stay for the rest of the season.