Deportivo La Coruña 0 - Real Madrid 0

Deportivo: Juanmi; Scaloni, César, Naybet, Romero; Sergio, Mauro Silva; Víctor (Duscher 93'), Fran (Toro Acuña 70'), Capdevila (Luque 82'); Makaay. 4-2-3-1.
Real Madrid: Casillas; Michel Salgado, Hierro, Iván Helguera, Roberto Carlos; Makelele, Cambiasso; Figo (Miñambres 59'), Zidane, Solari (Guti 91'); Ronaldo (Morientes 59'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Deportivo: No change / Madrid: Figo, Solari for McManaman, Guti.

Goals: None.

Deportivo La Coruña and Real Madrid played out a calm 0-0 draw in a rainy Riazor stadium. Several Real Madrid players passed late fitness tests, most notably Figo and Cambiasso, but Raúl dropped out of the squad with gastro-enteritis and Del Bosque drafted in Solari to replace him. Deportivo were unchanged for the third game in a row, the first time that this had happened in all of Irureta's time as manager of Depor.

The slippery conditions made play difficult, although both sides did their best to create chances. Makaay brought a good save out of Casillas in the third minute, and Ronaldo failed to control a high ball from Hierro with the goal at his mercy a few minutes later. Referee Muñiz Fernández turned down a penalty appeal when Solari fell a little too easily under a challenge from Sergio, and Víctor almost caught out Casillas with a free kick from wide on the left which bounced off the bar.

There was a moment of concern when César crashed into Ronaldo's bad knee just before the break, but the Brazilian striker was not badly hurt and returned for the second half to send a shot wide of Juanmi's goal. Casillas was called into play again to tip a snap shot by César around the post, probably the best save of the night, and Romero fired another effort way over the bar.

On the hour mark Del Bosque decided to rest Figo and Ronaldo, bringing on Miñambres and Morientes, who immediately put Juanmi to the test with a shot from right of goal. Scaloni sent a long range strike dipping just over the bar, and Makaay failed to connect with Romero's cross when in a good scoring position soon afterwards. Then with time running out, Juanmi had trouble holding on to a long-ranger from Roberto Carlos, but his defence scrambled the ball clear.

After that both managers settled for a draw, bringing on late substitutes to run down the clock. Neither side were too happy though, and both finished the weekend outside of the top four, level on thirteen points. For Real Madrid it was an improvement, although they have not won away now in the league since the end of March. Deportivo have themselves only won one game in their last four. There is still a long way to go though, and things can only get better.