Espanyol 0 - Mallorca 1

Espanyol: Mora; Cristóbal, Lopo (Benítez 60'), Rotchen, David García; Galca, Sergio; Velamazán, Martín Posse (Serrano 75'), Roger (Arteaga 80'); Tamudo. 4-2-3-1.
Mallorca: Miki; Olaizola (Armando 80'), Siviero, Nadal, Miguel Soler; Finidi (Novo 70'), Marcos, Francisco Soler, Ibagaza; Eto'o (Robles 62'), Luque. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Espanyol: Cristóbal, Martín Posse for Navas, Morales / Mallorca: Siviero for Fernando Niño.

Goals:
0-1. 18. Luque. Near post header over keeper following corner from Ibagaza.

Mallorca responded to the pressure from Valencia and Barcelona to come away from the Montjuic stadium with three points which keeps them in line for a place in the Champions League next season. Victories from their two rivals in the days before this game took Valencia three points above them and Barça level, and they were obliged to win to keep the momentum going. The crowd was larger than usual as Barcelona fans left their prejudices behind for once to cheer on their local rivals, hoping that their neighbours could do them a favour by beating Mallorca, and there was a large presence of team scouts from all over Europe looking for bargains after Espanyol put up the "for sale" sign on their players to try and bail them out of their financial difficulties. Galca and Posse will definitively be leaving (Galca is still owed wages from last year), but Roger, Sergio, Tamudo and others have also been the subject of offers in the last few weeks.

Espanyol started well, hitting the woodwork twice in the first eight minutes, Velamazán beating Miki after Sergio had put him through only to see his shot hit the left post, and Sergio himself lifting the ball over the young reserve keeper onto the inside of the same post two minutes later. Miki had kept his place after Leo Franco and Mono Burgos were both ruled out once again through injury, and with Fernando Niño suspended the visitors' defence was looking shaky. However they picked themselves up quickly and took the lead on their first real attack, Luque heading his ninth of the season from Ibagaza's corner from the right. With half an hour gone an off-form Tamudo missed a good chance, and three minutes after the break Luque could have extended the lead if Mora had not stopped another header from Luque. Shortly afterwards though Bueno Grimal gave Espanyol a helping hand sending off Marcos for a second (not really very) bookable offence. It was the eighth card he had shown up to then in a game which was not particularly dirty, and the referee is making a name for himself having never sent off a home team player in all his career.

With his opponents down to ten men, Paco Flores decided to bring on Benítez, the Paraguayan given an ovation by fans as he made his first home appearance since undergoing a knee operation over a year ago. Luis Aragonés pulled his men back, with Robles replacing Eto'o to fill the gap left by Marcos's early exit as Espanyol came forward. Posse, Velazán and Galca all went close, and Sergio headed just wide as the game came to a close. Mallorca were still in the chase for their Champions League place, and Espanyol lose probably their last opportunity to close in on the UEFA cup positions, with sixth placed Celta now five points above them. Their last hope may be to follow in Rayo's footsteps as Spain's fair play candidate, although that is a remote possibility as it depends on the luck of thr draw. Otherwise it could be back to the Intertoto.