Deportivo 2 - Barcelona 0

Deportivo: Dudu Aouate; Manuel Pablo, Lopo, Pablo Amo, Coloccini, Filipe Luis; Wilhelmsson (Cristian 83'), De Guzmán, Juan Rodríguez, Lafita (Verdú 85'); Xisco (Riki 73'). 5-4-1.
Barcelona: Pinto; Zambrotta (Edmilson 69'), Thuram, Puyol, Sylvinho; Touré Yaya (Deco 57'), Márquez, Gudjohnsen; Giovani (Ezquerro 77'), Bojan, Henry. 4-3-3.

Team changes: Deportivo: Manuel Pablo, Juan Rodríguez, Lafita for Barragán, Sergio, Taborda / Barça: Pinto, Thuram, Márquez, Henry for Víctor Valdés, Milito, Xavi, Eto'o.

Goals:
1-0. 54. Juan Rodríguez. Got on end of Lafita cross to turn shot past Pinto.
2-0. 76. Pablo Amo. Far post header unmarked from Wilhelmsson free kick.

Any chance Barcelona had of catching Real Madrid disappeared after Frank Rijkaard's side lost 2-0 at Deportivo on Saturday evening. With the Champions League semi-final at old Trafford coming up in three days, the coach made changes up to and including his goalkeeper. But they were unable to make any impression against a side who have the best record in the second half of the season, and they could have been behind at the break after Xisco hit the bar and two or three more chances were wasted.

Juan Rodríguez turned in Lafita's cross though to open the scoring early in the second half, and Pablo Amo headed the second from Wilhelmsson's free kick later on. And it could have been more had Sylvinho not cleared off the line from Cristian late on. Barcelona's goal drought continues (they have not scored now in three games), and they are in real danger of missing out on second spot after only picking up six points from their last eight games. Depor though are on the rise, and they move up the table to seventh after a sixth home win in a row.