Valencia 0 - Deportivo La Coruña 1

Valencia: Palop; Curro Torres, Ayala, Pellegrino (Enguix 76'), Fabio Aurelio; Baraja, Marchena; Rufete, Aimar (Juan Sánchez 74'), Vicente; Carew (Mista 72'). 4-2-3-1.
Deportivo: Juanmi; Scaloni, César, Donato, Romero; Sergio, Mauro Silva; Víctor, Valerón (Duscher 34'), Amavisca (Capdevila 74'); Makaay (Luque 60'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Valencia: Curro Torres, Baraja, Vicente, Carew for Garrido, Carboni, Albelda, Angulo / Deportivo: Mauro Silva, Víctor for Duscher, Diego Tristán.

Goals:
0-1. 21. Makaay. Ran on to Scaloni clearance to turn ball through Palop's legs.

Second placed Valencia were beaten 0-1 at home by Deportivo La Coruña and lose ground on leaders Real Sociedad. Rafa Benítez recovered several players for this vital game, with Baraja and Curro Torres returning after a one match ban and Vicente back from injury, and in the opening minutes it appeared that they would over-run their Champions League rivals. Depor were missing Naybet in defence, back on the bench but not yet match fit, and Juanmi was forced to make point blank saves from Rufete and Carew as the forwards ran rings around donato and crew.

But the visitors weathered the storm, and Víctor sent a warning to the locals with a header just wide on a quick breakaway. A minute later Depor were in front in a moment of opportunist striking from predator Roy Makaay, the Dutch forward not giving up as Palop's loose clearance was headed straight back in by Scaloni, racing on to turn the ball through the keeper's legs as he came out of his area.

After that it was all Valencia, with Juanmi saving the day again from Rufete and Aimar, and Scaloni clearing a Carew header off the line with the keeper beaten. Depor suffered an important blow when Valerón was injured in a tackle with Baraja, a worried Irureta replacing him with Duscher as the Spanish international midfielder limped off holding the same leg which he injured early on in the season.

It was Juanmi's day though, and the keeper rounded off what must be his best performance since joining the club in the summer saving a second half Aimar penalty after Donato had fouled Carew. Palop too had to make a couple of saves after the break, but his most memorable contribution was to race half the length of the pitch to try and drag Víctor into touch as the winger lay on the ground clearly feigning an injury to waste time. The incident sparked off a small fracas between the players, with Víctor miraculously recovering to protest the keeper's actions.

The result stops Valencia in their tracks, and they drop seven points behind the leaders even though they hold on to second place. Deportivo stay in sixth spot, but are now only two points behind their rivals in what is already looking like a race for the runners up spot. With ties against Real Madrid, Real Sociedad and Barcelona coming up, Valencia really needed to get a result here, and if Real Madrid win in their postponed game against Sevilla on 2nd January they could already be down to third. Not a very merry Christmas present for Benítez.