Valencia 2 - Betis 0

Valencia: Palop; Anglomá (Juan Sánchez 80'), Pellegrino, Djukic, Carboni; Albelda (Kily González 60'), Baraja; Rufete (Mista 65'), Aimar, Vicente; Angulo. 4-2-3-1.
Betis: Gaspercic; Tais, Belenguer, Rivas, Luis Fernández; Ito, Merino; Joaquín, Capi, César (Denilson 70'); Joao Tomas (Casas 70'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Valencia: Palop, Anglomá, Djukic, Carboni, for Cañizares, Curro Torres, Ayala, Fabio Aurelio / Betis: Belenguer, Merino, César for Juanito, Cañas, Denilson.

Goals:
1-0. 45. Baraja. Controlled pass in from left and beat keeper.
2-0. 91. Vicente. Controlled cross from left wing to shoot past Gaspercic.

A night of celebration in the Mestalla stadium, where already crowned champions Valencia beat Betis in a match where what happened on the field of play didn't really matter. With Valencia tying up their first league title in 31 years the week before and Betis sure of a place in next season's UEFA cup, both managers took advantage to give a run out to other players. Rafa Benítez brought in number two keeper Palop for club captain Cañizares, who was given a rest after becoming a father again a day or so earlier, and French international Angloma started in what was his last game before retiring. With nothing to play for the game was at least open, although neither side created many chances in the first half, with Aimar shooting just over and Palop saving from Capi a few minutes later. Just before the break however Baraja ran the ball out of his own defence, and sprinted up the other end to take Vicente's return pass and open the scoring with his sixth goal in eight games.

Soon after the restart Benítez brought on Kily González to a rousing ovation from the fans, and Baraja went close to scoring again with a header which went just wide. But then referee Téllez Sánchez ruled that Angloma had fouled Tais in the area, awarding a penalty to the visitors. Gaston Casas had only just come on, making his first appearance in six months after a serious injury, but he felt confident enough to take the kick. However Palop guessed correctly and dived to turn the ball away for a corner.

A few minutes later Angloma was substituted and was shouldered off by his colleagues, the crowd once again standing to applaud him as he left the field. After that it was Mexican waves and general celebrations, and right on cue Vicente rounded off a great night beating Gaspercic in the last minute for the final scoreline. After the match RFEF president Angel Villar presented the league trophy to Cañizares, who also won the goalkeeper's Zamora prize for the second year running, and the party went on into the night. Everybody hopes it won't be another 31 years before the next one.