Villarreal 3 - Deportivo 2

Villarreal: López Vallejo; Galván (Xavi Roca 65'), Unai, Quique Álvarez (Berruet 75'), Arruabarrena; Escoda, Amor, Cagna, Calleja; Víctor, Marioni (Moisés 70'). 4-4-2.
Deportivo: Molina; Manuel Pablo, Donato, Helder, Romero; Mauro Silva, César Sampaio; Víctor (Makaay 88'), Djalminha (Scaloni 38'), Fernando; Diego Tristán (Pandiani 55'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Villarreal: Escoda, Calleja for Berruet, Jorge López / Deportivo: Helder, Romero, Fernando for Naybet, Capdevila, Turu Flores.

Goals:
0-1. 10. Djalminha. Poked soft shot past keeper after pass from Manuel Pablo.
1-1. 41. Víctor. Strong shot after taking pass from Arruabarrena on left.
1-2. 67. Pandiani. Ran on to pass from left midfield and slid ball past keeper.
2-2. 82. Víctor. Controlled ball on right of area and shot low across Molina.
3-2. 91. Moisés. On right hand post after Víctor's shot going wide.

League champions Deportivo La Coruña twice lost the lead in this match, and in the end were beaten by a team that wasn't prepared to give up. Villarreal's inspiration was their centre forward Víctor (not to be confused with Villarreal's manager Víctor or Deportivo's right winger Víctor), who scored the first two goals for his side and laid on the third, and he could be a late name to be pencilled in on Camacho's team-sheet for Spain's upcoming friendly with Holland. Villarreal came in to this, the first of the three 'ghost train' matches (the sort where you go in to a dark tunnel not knowing what to expect and come out with your hair standing on end), having gone five matches without a win. Víctor (the manager that is) decided to give it a try anyway, going back to the 4-4-2 formation after his unsuccessful experiment with 5-3-2, and he changed his two wide midfield players, with Escoda getting his first start since accompanying his manager from Lleida in the summer.

Depor's manager Javier Irureta has been rotating his players well, choosing to leave out tired players and giving most of his squad a chance, although this time the team almost picked itself, with Naybet and Turu Flores joining an increasingly long injury list, so Helder came back in defence and Fernando, just back from a one match suspension, returned on the left of midfield. After taking Las Palmas apart in the last match, Irureta decided to keep Djalminha and Tristán as his front pairing, and in the first few minutes it looked as if they were going to repeat that scoreline, with Djalminha hitting a post from a free kick and just putting another shot wide. Then with ten minutes gone he finally got his first league goal in a class move, with Diego Tristán stepping over Manuel Pablo's long ball from the right leaving the Brazilian free to insolently push it past the keeper and in off the post. But then disaster struck as Djalminha went down injured, and he reluctantly left the field to be replaced by Scaloni, Víctor-the-right midfielder moving to Djaminha's position with the newcomer on the right. Only a few minutes later Víctor-the-centre-forward produced his own piece of magic, taking a pass from the left and steadying himself before shooting into the top corner of Molina's net from outside of the penalty area.

Shortly after the half time break Irureta replaced a triste Tristán with his super-sub Pandiani, and the Uruguayan didn't wait long before restoring Depor's lead with his fifth of the season, the defence caught ball watching as Pandiani beat the offside trap to score his fifth of the season. Villarreal didn't deserve to be behind, and having tested Molina a couple of times, Víctor-the-centre-forward left him no chance with another quickly struck goal. Irureta brought on Makaay for the last couple of minutes for Víctor-the-right-midfielder-turned-forward hoping to snatch a winner, but it was the home side who got their just rewards, Víctor-the-centre-forward this time shooting across goal for Moisés, waiting at the far post, to turn it past Molina. Víctor-the-manager leapt up in glee as the final whistle blew, his job safe for a few more days at least, with his side now in a respectable ninth position. Deportivo lose a bit of ground, but with leaders Valencia losing as well they are only a couple of points off the top. They do have a few more teams breathing down their necks however, and Alavés sneak past them on goal average after winning by a four goal margin. On now to their last Champions League game at Hamburg, and a draw would give them the leadership of the group. However they are already through to the next stage, and Irureta will probably rest some of his stars knowing that. They have a long season ahead of them.