Málaga 3 - Valencia 0

Málaga: Contreras; Larrainzar, Fernando Sanz, Bravo, Roteta; Rufete, Sandro (Zárate 70'), De los Santos, Agostinho (Movilla 60'); Canabal (Edgar 80'), Dely Valdés. 4-4-2.
Valencia: Cañizares; Angloma (Djukic 75'), Ayala, Pellegrino, Carboni; Mendieta, Baraja, Aimar, Kily González (Vicente 46'); Juan Sánchez (Zahovic 46'), Carew. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Málaga: Larrainzar, Roteta, Agostinho, Dely Valdés for Rojas, Iznata, Movilla, Darío Silva / Valencia: Angloma, Pellegrino, Mendieta, Kily González, Juan Sánchez, Carew for Björklund, Angulo, Deschamps, Vicente, Zahovic, Diego Alonso.

Goals:
1-0. 22. Dely Valdés. Overhead kick after Sanz headed on Rufete corner.
2-0. 39. Dely Valdés. Headed on after De los Santos met Rufete corner.
3-0. 75. Dely Valdés (penalty). After Pellegrino fouled De los Santos in area.

Valencia woke up from their hangover after qualifying for the Champions League final for the second year in a row and got themselves mugged by Dely Valdés and his gang. The euphoria after Wednesday night was short-lived as Málaga took advantage of their lack of concentration to walk away with the three points without too much effort. Héctor Cúper used the game to try out his probable starting line up for the final at Milan's San Siro stadium after resting many of his stars the weekend before, with Aimar taking up a position in attacking midfield in front of Carew and Sánchez. However after they were reduced to ten men shortly before half time when Ayala got his marching orders for walking all over Canabal, Cúper decided it was time for new blood, and brought on Vicente and Zahovic for Kily and Sánchez.

By that time they were two goals behind against a Málaga side who were fighting for a place in Europe next year. Peiró brought back his two full backs Larrainzar and Roteta after a one match ban, and although Darío Silva was out with flu, Agostinho, Dely Valdés and Edgar came back after recovering from their respective injuries. And it was Dely Valdés who did the damage with two superb goals in the first half and a penalty to complete his hat-trick in the second. The first goal in particular was a masterpiece, an overhead kick from wide of the left post which left Cañizares motionless after Fernando Sanz had headed on a corner from the right. Then just over a quarter of an hour later he added the second, also from a Rufete corner from the right, glancing on a De los Santos header to leave the keeper wrong-footed.

To be fair Valencia weren't playing badly, with Sánchez heading just wide and Mendieta forcing a good save out of Contreras, but they were lacking the punch they had in previous games. Contreras saved again from Aimar in the second half, but then Dely finished things off after Pellegrino dragged down De los Santos in the area. The Bayern Munich spies watching in the crowd must have thought that they were going to have it easy in ten days time, but they should not take too much notice of this match. Valencia will be a different side then, and having lost last year's final they will be keen to make amends at the San Siro. They hold on to third place in the league, level now with Mallorca, but lose ground on Deportivo and are now five points behind them. Málaga's first home victory in two months takes them up to seventh, now only a point away from Celta, and they are back in contention for the last UEFA spot.