Málaga 1 - Deportivo 3

Málaga: Contreras; Rojas, Larrainzar, Roteta, Valcarce; Rufete, Movilla (Zárate 65'), De los Santos, Agostinho (Bravo 46'); Darío Silva, Canabal. 4-4-2.
Deportivo: Molina; Manuel Pablo, César, Helder, Romero; Scaloni, Donato, Emerson (Valerón 65'), Fran (Capdevila 90'); Makaay (Naybet 85'), Pandiani. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Málaga: Agostinho, Darío Silva for Iznata, Dely Valdés / Depor: César, Scaloni, Pandiani for Mauro Silva, Víctor, Djalminha.

Goals:
1-0. 11. Darío Silva. Long free kick which took deflection off defender.
1-1. 32. Makaay. First time shot after Fran slipped ball through defence.
1-2. 81. Scaloni. Cut in from right and shot across Contreras.
1-3. 91. Scaloni. Thirty metre shot which hit post and went in off keeper's head.

The headlines read that Deportivo La Coruña won at Málaga for the first time in 46 years, although the truth is that they only played there five times in all those years. Even so it was an important victory for Deportivo, who move up to second place thanks to Valencia's defeat at the hands of Barcelona. The victory also ends a run of three away losses, and at the same time ends Málaga's recent home record of six wins and a draw. Irureta once again made the usual changes, and his application of the rotation system means he has never used the same starting eleven twice in all the season. This week's surprise was the change to a 4-4-2 from the 4-2-3-1 he has used all season, with Pandiani coming in up front alongside Makaay. Djalminha had been suspended for two matches following his loss of nerves last weekend, and he created shock waves midweek when he announced that he would be taking the case to the civil court to appeal against an unfair loss of earnings, something totally against the rules of FIFA. His action could have dire consequences for his club, who may be thrown out of the summer world club championship as a result, and although Depor asked Djalminha to withdraw his claim, he decided to continue.

Joaquín Peiró brought back Darío Silva after a one match ban, taking the place of the injured Dely Valdés. The Uruguayan striker has been on form this season, and he opened the scoring early on from a free kick which took a deflection off the defensive wall, deceiving Contreras. Last season he scored the only goal of the match to give his team the three points, but this time history was not to repeat itself, as Deportivo came back, with Makaay getting his eighth of the season with a first time shot across the keeper after Fran found the gap in the defence. As usual Málaga went through a bad patch after letting in the goal, and Contreras tipped away for a corner a shot from Scaloni, who was deputizing for the suspended Víctor. Málaga were starting to leak water, especially down the Depor's left wing, and Peiró plugged the gap just after half time, bringing on a third central defender Bravo. The move was providential, as the team captain blocked an effort from Makaay on the goal line only minutes after coming on.

Gradually Málaga won back control, but they were unable to convert their chances, Rufete shooting wide and Darío Silva seeing another shot run across the face of the goal with nobody there to finish off. Valerón, who was expected to start in place of Djalminha, finally came on for the last half hour to inspire his side, but it was Scaloni who took the opportunity in Víctor's absence to put in a strong claim for a more regular place, firstly cutting in from the right to drive the ball past Contreras, then in injury time to fire in a speculative shot which hit the post, and which, to the embarrassment of the keeper, rebounded on to the back of his head and in to the net as he dived to save. The result keeps Deportivo within two points of leaders Real Madrid and one ahead of Barcelona in second place. Málaga drop a place to eighth, disappointing their best crowd of the season, but they are still only two points away from the UEFA spots and are still in line for their goal at the start of the season, play in Europe next year.