Valencia 0 - Deportivo 1

Valencia: Cañizares; Angloma, Ayala, Pellegrino, Fabio Aurelio; Baraja, Albelda (Vicente 78'), Aimar (Zahovic 74'), Kily González; Juan Sánchez (Ilie 65'), Carew. 4-4-2.
Deportivo: Molina; Manuel Pablo (Scaloni 82'), Naybet, Donato (César 58'), Capdevila; Víctor, Mauro Silva, Valerón (Emerson 50'), Fran; Makaay, Diego Tristán. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Valencia: Ayala, Albelda, Kily González for Djukic, Mendieta, Vicente / Depor: Molina, Naybet, Capdevila for Songo'o, Helder, Romero.

Goals:
0-1. 69. Makaay. Picked up bad back pass by Ayala and rounded keeper to score.

Valencia threw away a chance to secure themselves a Champions League spot for next season after losing at home to Deportivo, and they now have to at least pick up a point in their visit to Barcelona at the Camp Nou next week to qualify for the competition. Missing their injured captain Mendieta they were never really in control, and they continue with their miserable record in the league against the big three clubs, having so far failed to pick up a point against Real Madrid, Barcelona and Deportivo in five games. It was Héctor Cúper's last game in charge at the Mestalla stadium, and a capacity 52,000 crowd gave him a fairly cold sending off, considering that he has taken them to two consecutive Champions League finals. Valencia fans have a reputation for being overcritical (they are not alone in that in Spain though), and that and the constant bickering between directors has so far put off five candidates for Cúper's job, with Tenerife's Rafa Benítez now favourite to take over.

Deportivo have no such problems, with Irureta renewing his contract for another year. Needing a result to hold off the strong challenge from Mallorca for second place, he picked an attacking side, leaving the not fully fit Djalminha on the bench in favour of his twin strike force of Makaay and Tristán, with Valerón playing behind them. Molina returned in goal after a one match ban, and Naybet was back from international duty in defence. For the first quarter of an hour the plan worked, and Donato almost put them ahead with a free kick which rattled the bar and a follw up which brushed the post. That was a wake up call for Cúper's men, and Albelda brought a good save out of Molina soon afterwards. With the right wing out to lunch attacks started to come down the left, where Fabio Aurelio was keeping out Carboni and Kily possibly playing his last game at home keen to impress. Aimar and Sánchez were involved in everything, but Carew wasn't having his best night, and despite several scoring chances, the players went in at half time with no movement on the scoreboard.

The trend continued in the second half, and referee Carmona Méndez waved away Kily's appeal for a penalty. Irureta calmed things down, bringing on Emerson for Valerón, and then had to introduce César when Donato was stretchered off. Cúper brought on Ilie for his first appearance since coming back from injury, but Deportivo came back, and after Carmona turned down another penalty appeal from Emerson, a rare mistake by Ayala let in Makaay to score the only goal of the game. Cúper threw on Zahovic and Vicente but both wasted chances in front of Molina, and fans rather unfairly booed their players off the field at the end. Barcelona's point at Valladolid leaves them three points behind Valencia, and everything now goes to the last match, with several players due to leave the club if they don't make the Champions League. Deportivo are sure of their participation in the competition, but they need to secure second spot which gives them automatic entry to the league stage. Mallorca's victory keeps them within two points of the Gallicians, and with goal average in favour of the team from the Balearic Islands, Depor need to beat Málaga next week to be sure.