Deportivo La Coruña 1 - Rayo Vallecano 1

Deportivo: Songo'o; Manuel Pablo, Naybet, Donato, Capdevila; Mauro Silva, César Sampaio; Víctor (Scaloni 70'), Djalminha, Turu Flores (Fernando 53'); Makaay (Diego Tristán 79'). 4-2-3-1.
Rayo: Lopetegui; Alcázar, De Quintana (Bartelt 70'), Ballesteros, Mingo; Mauro (Glaucio 60'), Pablo Sanz, Setvalls (Bolo 46'), Michel; Quevedo; Bolic. 4-4-1-1.

Team changes: Deportivo: Songo'o, Donato, Víctor, Turu Flores for Molina, Helder, Scaloni, Fernando / Rayo: Mauro, Pablo Sanz, Setvalls for Helder, Poschner, Bolo.

Goals:
1-0. 35. Makaay. Beat keeper from right after taking through ball from Djalminha.
1-1. 71. Bolic. Headed in on far post after goalmouth scramble.

Deportivo lost their lead at the top of the first division after only drawing at home to Rayo Vallecano. The turning point of the match was the sending off of Djalmina early in the second half for insulting the referee when Deportivo were in front, and from that moment on they were on their back foot as Rayo drove forward to get a result. The red card for the Brazilian star was just another grey chapter in his controversial curriculum vitae, a man who can turn a match in a moment of brilliance but gets into trouble too often with referees to be considered one of the world's best. On the day after his 30th birthday, he had already laid the ball on a plate for Makaay to open the scoring, had gone close himself with a long shot, and had even cleared a shot from Bolic off the line when his team were under pressure. But then he protested rather too strongly to the referee Losantos Omar after a foul, and when the official started to get out the yellow card, Djalma couldn't contain himself, telling the referee what he thought of him and by implication his mother. That was too much even for Losantos, a relatively mild-mannered referee compared to some of his colleagues, and the player was off.

Rayo's manager Juande Ramos had started the game with one striker to allow Pablo Sanz to shadow Djalminha, but had brought on an extra forward Bolo at half time with his team a goal behind. As Irureta added a more defensive player Fernando after the sending off, Juande brought on another attacker Glaucio, and the extra pressure eventually paid off, even though if anything Rayo played worse against ten men than against eleven. The equaliser eventually came from Bolic, Rayo's best forward on the night, who took advantage of a defensive mix up to head past Songo'o (substituting the injured Molina) from close range. Irureta made himself unpopular towards the end as he decided to play safe, replacing Makaay with Tristán, and whistles were heard from the crowd.

In the last minute Rayo were unlucky not to take the three points as Bolic crashed a shot against the crossbar. But a draw was a fair result, and Depor give up their short lived lead at the top, falling behind Valencia again on goal average. Rayo hold on to fourth spot, and are still the highest scoring team in the league this season, with three players, Bolic, Michel and Bolo, in the Pichichi table. Djalminha will have to sit out the next two games, and he will be joined in the sin bin by his teammate César Sampaio and by Rayo's De Quintana, who both picked up their fifth yellow card of the season.