Espanyol 0 - Alavés 0

Espanyol: Mora; Cristóbal (Lardín 70'), Soldevilla, Rotchen, Navas; Velamazán (Serrano 75'), Sergio, Galca, Roger; Nishizawa (Oscar 46'), Tamudo. 4-4-2.
Alavés: Herrera; Contra (Karmona 65'), Eggen, Téllez, Geli; Desio, Pablo (Iván Alonso 80'); Tomic, Jordi Cruyff, Ibon Begoña; Javi Moreno (Magno 70'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Espanyol: No change / Alavés: No change.

Goals: None.

A dull game dominated by both defences ended without goals in the Montjuic stadium. The match was played in difficult conditions, with a strong gale making any creative play difficult and a newly seeded pitch breaking up under the feet of the players. With one eye on Thursday's UEFA cup quarter final against Rayo, Alavés played a containing game, sitting back and waiting for Espanyol to come at them. Espanyol created the best chances, with Herrera saving early efforts from Velamazán, Tamudo and Nishizawa, who was starting his first match in the league at home. The Japanese striker also saw another shot cleared off the line by Téllez before the break, and the home side were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty when Eggen brought down Rotchen.

At half time Paco Flores brought on Oscar for Nishizawa, but the home-grown forward could do no better, hitting the post when he should have scored. His brother Roger also hit the woodwork with a centre-come-shot, and Rotchen had a header cleared off the line by Ibon Begoña. Mané brought on club captain Karmona for his first appearance since returning from injury, and later on brought on two fresh forwards Magno and Alonso, taking off a disappointing Javi Moreno who was being watched by scouts from Aston Villa. In the dying minutes the Vitoria based side came looking to steal a winner, and Mora was finally called on to display his wares, cutting out a dangerous centre from Desio and keeping out other attempts at goal.

In the end though a disappointing result for both teams, with Alavés losing an opportunity to make more ground on sixth place Villarreal, who surprisingly lost at home to Málaga. They however still stay in seventh place, and can now concentrate on their UEFA cup quarter final tie with Rayo Vallecano on Thursday. Espanyol have now gone four games without a win, and they stay in eleventh place, a little further away from their objective of European football for next season. The only consolation they have was the granting of a 13 million euros credit from a local government finance agency, which alleviates their financial difficulties for the time being. Stories of their plight have attracted a large number of observers from other clubs, looking to pick up their star players at bargain basement prices. Expect to see the attendance figure go down from now on.