Mallorca 4 - Deportivo 1

Mallorca: Leo Franco; Campano, Olaizola, Nadal, Siviero, Miguel Soler; Novo (Robles 81'), Paco Soler, Paunovic (Marcos 69'); Eto'o, Luque (Biagini 76'). 5-3-2.
Deportivo: Molina; Héctor (Scaloni 78'), César, Helder, Capdevila; Duscher, Sergio (Valerón 55'); Víctor, Djalminha, Amavisca (Diego Tristán 63'); Pandiani. 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Mallorca: Paunovic for Marcos / Deportivo: Duscher, Pandiani for Mauro Silva, Makaay.

Goals:
1-0. 08. Luque. Shot into empty net after Eto'o won ball off keeper and laid back.
2-0. 27. Luque. Shot from outside area which caught Molina out of position.
2-1. 29. Pandiani. Headed down into bottom corner from Hectór's long cross.
3-1. 52. Paunovic. First time shot after Novo's centre came back across area.
4-1. 80. Campano. Took pass out of defence down right wing and ran on to score.

With the three teams behind them all getting beaten, Deportivo held on to the top spot despite losing heavily to Mallorca. Irureta made nine changes from his Champions League side which beat Arsenal mid-week, with only Molina and Víctor staying in the side. Diego Tristán and Makaay were nursing injuries from that match and Pandiani came in at centre forward, with Djalminha replacing the tired Valerón in support. Sergio Kresic took a different approach, sticking to the same block who lost their UEFA cup tie at Slovan Liberec on Thursday, with the only changes forced upon him by injury, Siviero coming in for Niño and Paco Soler for Marcos.

The good news though was the return of Luque up front, who had not started the game midweek. His form this season has been iffy due to a series of niggling injuries, but he proved he is back to full fitness with two well taken goals in the first half hour of the game. The first came with only eight minutes on the clock after a clever piece of play by Eto'o, the Cameroon international sneaking in as the defence hesitated to take the ball to the by-line and lay it back for Luque to score with Molina stranded. And then Luque let fly with a shot from outside of the area which caught the Depor keeper unprepared to give them a two goal lead. The visitors came back almost immediately though, Olaizola giving too much space to Pandiani for him to head home Héctor's cross.

But that was a flash in the pan, and Paunovic added a third after the Depor defence were once again caught ball watching. Irureta brought on Valerón and Tristán to join Djalminha and Pandiani, but it was a risky play, and a few minutes after Luque hit the bar with a free kick, Campano beat the offside trap to race away and coolly beat Molina for a fourth. It was Deportivo's biggest defeat in two years, and one has to question whether their manager had gone too far this time with his rotation system. Mallorca climb out of the relegation zone, and with results of the teams around them going in their favour, they rise up to thirteenth.