Deportivo La Coruña 1 - Málaga 0

Deportivo: Munúa; Scaloni, Coloccini, Andrade, Romero; Sergio, Mauro Silva; Víctor (Munitis 78'), Valerón (Duscher 84'), Luque; Diego Tristán (Fran 66'). 4-2-3-1.
Málaga: Arnau; Gerardo, Fernando Sanz, César Navas, Valcarce; Romero (Amoroso 75'), Juanito; Juan Rodríguez, Miguel Angel (Edgar 78'), Duda; Fernando Baiano (Wanchope 75'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Deportivo: Andrade, Romero, Mauro Silva for Pablo Amo, Capdevila, Duscher / Málaga: No change.

Goals:
1-0. 45. Diego Tristán (penalty). After Scaloni tripped by Duda on right of area.

Deportivo La Coruña recorded a second home win in a row for only the first time this season after beating Málaga 1-0. Either side could have scored in the first half, Miguel Angel firing a long shot wide and Romero bringing a good save out of Munúa for the visitors, and Víctor putting an effort wide for the locals before testing Arnau after Valerón and Tristán combined to set him up. However Depor were awarded a hotly disputed penalty by referee Velasco Carballo when Scaloni fell under Duda's challenge on the stroke of half time, and Diego Tristán stepped up to convert the resulting spot kick.

Tristán could have increased the lead after the restart had he not shot tamely at a defender, and Duda came close to equalising with two dangerous free kicks which Munúa managed to keep out. Antonio Tapia's side were desperate to maintain their six match unbeaten run though, and the manager threw on three attacking players as the game wore on. But when César Navas was sent off for a second bookable offence it was all over, and the Galicians came away with the three points which takes them up to ninth, just four points away from the UEFA spots.