Celta Vigo 3 - Betis 1

Celta: Cavallero; Velasco, Cáceres, Berizzo, Juanfran; Giovanella, Luccin (Doriva 65'); Karpin, Mostovoi, Gustavo López (edú 72'); Catanha (Jesuli 80'). 4-2-3-1.
Betis: Prats; Varela, Rivas, Belenguer, Mingo; Ito, Gudjonsson (Calado 60'); Joaquín, Capi, Denilson (Amato 79'); Casas (Joao Tomas 60'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Celta: Cavallero, Gustavo López for Pinto, Jesuli / Betis: Rivas, Gudjonsson, Denilson for Juanito, Calado, César.

Goals:
1-0. 14. Gustavo López. Shot from edge of area after short Mostovoi free kick.
2-0. 29. Catanha. Controlled pass from Gustavo López and placed shot in corner.
3-0. 90. Mostovoi (penalty). After player himself tripped by Prats.
3-1. 92. Calado. Pushed ball forward and hit curling shot from 30 metres out.

Celta made it a Gallician one-two when they moved into second place behind Deportivo with a victory against last week's leaders Betis. Gustavo López returned from international duty with Argentina to join the side, and he made the difference in the first half, getting on the end of Mostovoi's free kick to open the scoring and making the second for top scorer Catanha with less than half an hour on the clock. It was the Hispano-Brazilian's sixth of the season in all competitions, and his fourth in the league. Betis were showing the strain after being eliminated from the cup midweek, with Denilson returning from international duty but unable to make any headway against the Celta defence.

With an hour gone Juande Ramos brought on his two Portuguese internationals Calado and Joao Tomas and things improved slightly, with Capi going close on a coule of occasions. However Celta were always dangerous on the counterattack, and in the last minute of normal time Prats brought down Mostovoi in the penalty area, the Russian midfielder converted the resulting penalty kick. However there was still time for Calado to pull one back, and Betis were unlucky not to get a penalty immediately afterwards when Cavallero brought down Joao Tomas. The Portuguese striker was carried off on a stretcher as the final whistle went. After the match Celta's Boban announced he would be giving up football after failing to hold down a place in the first team.