Valladolid 1 - Barcelona 2

Valladolid: Ricardo; Torres Gómez, Peña, Caminero, Marcos; Lozano (Cuauhtèmoc Blanco 77'), Jesús (Eusebio 70'); Fernando Sales, Fernando, Luis García (Oscar 85'); Tote. 4-2-3-1.
Barcelona: Bonano; Puyol (Reiziger 69'), Christanval, Abelardo, Coco; Gabri, Xavi (Frank De Boer 50'), Cocu; Luis Enrique; Kluivert, Overmars (Motta 61). 4-3-1-2.

Team changes: Valladolid: Jesús, Tote for Mario, Chema / Barcelona: Abelardo, Gabri, Overmars for Frank De Boer, Rivaldo, Saviola.

Goals:
1-0. 09. Luis García. Angled shot from left of area after Tote put him through.
1-1. 11. Kluivert. Shot in off bar after Overmars laid ball in from left.
1-2. 41. Cocu. From close range after Luis Enrique stepped over Gabri cross.

Barcelona climbed above Bilbao into sixth place after coming from behind to defeat Valladolid 1-2. With Rivaldo still out injured, Rexach put out almost the same side which won at Galatasaray midweek, the only change being Gabri for Rochemback, who pulled up in training earlier in the week. Tote returned for Pepe Moré's side after missing the last game through injury, with Jesús back after a one match ban. Luis García put the home side in front in the ninth minute with an angled shot across Bonano after Tote put him through, and he came close to adding a second a minute or two later. However Overmars sped off down the left wing soon afterwards and crossed in for Kluivert to level the scores with a shot which hit the bar and a post before going in. It was the Dutch striker's sixteenth league goal this season, taking him level with Morientes and Catanha at the top of the league Pichichi table. For the next half an hour or so Barcelona attacked, with Xavi hitting the bar and Kluivert putting a shot just wide after good work by Luis Enrique. Fernando brought a fingertip save out of Bonano at the other end, but then Cocu put the visitors into the lead shooting into the roof of the net from Gabri's cross.

It looked as if Barcelona were moving into top gear, but then disaster struck for them when their returning captain Abelardo was shown a direct red for a hard tackle from behind on Luis García. Cocu dropped back to cover, but almost immediately Valladolid had a triple scoring chance, with Lozano hitting the post with a header, Bonano pushing Fernando Sales' follow up on to the other post and Tote shooting over the bar from two metres out. Let off the hook, Rexach decided to bring on Frank De Boer five minutes in to the second half, sacrificing Xavi and consequently any thought of creative football. After that they parked the proverbial autobus in front of their goal, and sat back to weather the onslaught. Puyol switched to central defence as well and was his usual fighting self until he cut his lip in an accidental clash with Tote and had to be substituted by Reiziger. But Valladolid could find no way through until the very last minute, when Caminero missed the best chance of the game sending a free header directly at Bonano. There were no more chances and Barcelona kept their slim championship hopes alive, staying six points behind the leaders. Valladolid stay in eleventh place, but should have no problems staying at the top flight for another season at least.