Deportivo de La Coruña are also playing in the UEFA cup midweek, but with their game at home later in the week Irureta decided only to rest Mauro Silva of his first choice players, bringing in Jokanovic in his place. He was however also without César through injury and Schurrer through suspension, and Donato and Scaloni played in the back four. Rojas, Bravo and De los Santos were back in the Málaga side, and ex Madrid defender Fernando Sanz made his first start since joining his new club as Peiró lined up with five at the back. The Málaga players are all starting to look like their striker Catanha who has a shaved head, and at times it was difficult to tell between him, Edgar, Movilla etc. The Brazilian striker has averaged almost a goal a game, and once again he did not disappoint, scoring his seventh goal of the season from the penalty spot on the quarter hour after Scaloni had brought down Edgar. Deportivo were level by half time, Donato arriving first at a loose ball in the area to drive past Contreras ten minutes before the break. The second half was all La Coruña however as Málaga started to commit defensive errors. Djalminha scored twice , first from a shot from outside of the area which deflected off Bravo, and then with a placed shot past Contreras after his first effort had been blocked. In between Víctor headed in Makaay's cross for his second goal of the season. With 4-1 on the board and fifteen minutes to go, Irureta took off Djalminha and Pauleta, and Peiró put on Movilla and Luque. The final result means that Depor move up to third, and Málaga drop down to 14th, which with so many teams close together means they are within a point of the bottom four clubs.

Zaragoza have gone nine matches at the Romareda stadium without defeat, with only Barcelona and Espanyol with better home records. They came up against a Mallorca side plagued with injuries, struggling near the bottom of the table, and with one eye on their midweek UEFA cup match. Zaragoza's manager Txetxu Rojo had to leave out captain Aguado who was suspended, but had Santi Aragón back from his two match suspension. Fernando Vázquez included club captain Chichi Soler in place of the injured Engonga, and played Diego Tristán alone up front in view of injuries to his forwards Carlos (knee operation), Djokaj (muscle strain) and Biagini (out since the start of the season). As expected, the home side dominated the match, eventually winning 3-0 as Mallorca were reduced to nine men before the end. All three goals came in the second half, with Milosevic bagging a brace in a five minute period, the first coming from the penalty spot after the player himself had been brought down by keeper Burgos. Referee García Aranda had no doubt in sending off Burgos in the incident, although Mallorca players claimed that Milosevic had gone in to the tackle with both feet, and fell rather easily on contact with the Argentinian minder. Reserve keeper Leo Franco came on for Chichi Soler. Milosevic's second came on the hour, the big striker following up after Acuña's long free kick had thundered against the post. Acuña himself added the third on full time with another long shot, and Serrizuela was sent off for a foul on José Ignacio to round off a rotten night for Mallorca. Milosevic picked up a knock near the end and had to go off, and may now not be able to play next week, when he was hoping to break a club record by scoring for the sixth match in a row. Zaragoza rise to fifth and Mallorca are now second to bottom, level on seven points with Atlético Madrid, Valencia and Sevilla, and need to pick themselves up for their UEFA cup match on Thursday at Teplice.