Deportivo La Coruña 2 - Alavés 1

Deportivo: Molina; Manuel Pablo, Naybet, Donato, Romero; Víctor (César 73'), Mauro Silva, Valerón, Fran; Makaay (Pandiani 81'), Diego Tristán (Scaloni 65'). 4-4-2.
Alavés: Herrera; Contra, Eggen, Karmona, Brandán (Iván Alonso 55'); Desio, Pablo (Mario 77'); Astudillo, Tomic (Téllez 66'), Ibon Begoña; Javi Moreno. 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Depor: Naybet, Donato, Diego Tristán for César, Helder, Emerson / Alavés: Brandán, Pablo, Tomic for Geli, Magno, Jordi Cruyff.

Goals:
0-1. 15. Javi Moreno (penalty). After Naybet lashed out with elbow at Moreno.
1-1. 45. Diego Tristán (penalty). After Contra ruled to have brought down Víctor.
2-1. 54. Diego Tristán (penalty). After Contra tripped Víctor again in area.

Deportivo La Coruña came from behind with ten men to grind three points out of this match and move to within six points of leaders Real Madrid. The game was brought forward to Friday night in order to enable Alavés to prepare for next Wednesday's UEFA cup final against Liverpool in Dortmund, the Spanish football federation finally having to step in to decide the date after Deportivo had refused to play any earlier than Saturday. And having decided the date the federation also gave Mané a hand in selecting his side, their disciplinary committee banning three of the Alavés players, Geli, Jordi Cruyff and Magno, for accumulation of yellow cards. Mané would probably have rested some of his stars anyway, but it gave him a chance to try out 18 year old winter signing Pablo Diego Brandán, who has had to wait a couple of months for his transfer to come through from Argentina. Téllez was also left on the bench as he had still not recovered from an injury, but other than that he put out his best available side, not wanting to lose sight of the top spots in the league in case they lose midweek and have to qualify for Europe next season through their league position.

Deportivo are already sure of a place in European competitions and are fairly certain that they will be in the Champions League, but they want more than that, and while they still have a mathematical chance of their second league title in a row they will not give up. Irureta picked an attacking side, and with Djalminha still nursing a knee injury he drafted in the unsettled Diego Tristán to play alongside Makaay, with Valerón dropping back to a more defensive role and first choice central defenders Donato and Naybet coming back in after missing the last game. With so much at stake it was to prove a bad tempered match, with referee Ramírez Domínguez controversially awarding three penalties and sending off Naybet in the first penalty incident with less than a quarter of an hour gone. It was a harsh decision, the Moroccan defender lashing out with his arm as Javi Moreno held on to him from behind, and the striker made a meal of it, falling to the ground apparently in agony, only to get up and stroke home the penalty as soon as Naybet was off the field.

That provoked a counter-reaction from Deportivo, and the rest of the first half was more like a diving contest than a football match as the home side forwards tried to even things up. Diego Tristán got his name in the referee's book for a half-gaynor-with-pike (nulle point), but just before half time Ramírez gave in to the pressure after Víctor fell at the feet of Contra, Diego Tristán stepping up to score from the spot. It was more than they deserved, and only a brilliant performance by Molina, who made two first class saves from Moreno, had kept them in the game up to that point. A few minutes after the restart though the Víctor / Contra double act was repeated, and Diego Tristán added his second goal from the penalty spot. Herrera was lucky not to be sent off a couple of minutes later when he clearly handled outside of the area, thankfully for the Vitoria based side as he was to make a couple of important saves later in the game. Mané brought on his secret weapon Iván Alonso, but he couldn't beat Molina either, and when Irureta put on César to sit on Javi Moreno the threat from the visitors was over.

As the game went into the last five minutes tempers got to much for some, and handbags flew as Donato, Téllez and Pandiani all got themselves booked for aggressive behaviour. But in the end it was a game between the two 'Deportivos', and they more or less left the field as friends. Deportivo stay in the running for the league title, although everything depends on how Real Madrid bear up in the last four games of the season. Alavés leave for Dortmund this weekend, slightly depressed having lost this game and now maybe needing to win the UEFA cup final to return to play in Europe next season having ended the day down in ninth place. The good news for them though is that Mané has decided to stay for next season after turning down an offer from Valencia. We all wish them luck on Wednesday night, although it will not be easy to beat Liverpool. Whatever happens though, they have done Spanish football proud. Aupa el Glorioso!