Espanyol 0 - Valencia 1

Espanyol: Argensó; Navas, Soldevilla, Domoraud, David García; Morales (Luque 80'), Roger; Velamazán (De la Peña 55'), Maxi, Martín Posse; Milosevic (Tamudo 55'). 4-2-3-1.
Valencia: Cañizares; Curro Torres, Ayala, Pellegrino, Fabio Aurelio; Albelda, Baraja; Rufete, Aimar (Mista 78'), Vicente (Kily González 65'); Carew (Angulo 81'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Espanyol: Martín Posse for Luque / Valencia: Rufete for Angulo.

Goals:
0-1. 74. Fabio Aurelio. Bent free kick over wall into corner of net.

Valencia are the only side to match the pace of leaders Real Sociedad, and they recorded a 0-1 away victory at Espanyol to stay three points behind them in second place. A best of the season 35,000 crowd turned up for this game, with a family promotion by the club coinciding with two victories in a row under new boss Ramón Moya. The ex B team manager has now been officially appointed to replace the sacked Juande Ramos, and is expected to sign a two year contract soon.

Moya only decided to make one change to his side, giving a chance to Martín Posse after he impressed as substitute the week before, and opting to leave Tamudo on the bench at the beginning as he had not yet fully recovered from an injury. The early illusion of the fans though started to fade as the first half wore on, with much of the play in a packed midfield, and the only real chance falling to Valencia's Baraja who headed against the post with Argensó beaten.

Valencia were looking the more dangerous side after the break, and Carew sent a looping header against the bar and then forced a good save out of the keeper. Espanyol had hardly approached Cañizares' goal, and only when Moya brought on Tamudo and De la Peña did they show any signs of scoring. However a crunching tackle by Pellegrino on 'the little Buddha' took the wind out of his sails and after that he kept his head down.

Valencia's hero from the week before, Pablo Aimar, was celebrating his birthday, but was closely marked and did not make much of an impact. However a foul on him outside of the area did lead to the only goal of the match, Fabio Aurelio striking the resulting free kick over the defensive wall and in to the corner of the net. That was enough for the three points, and the league champions are en route for another shot at the title. Reality returned to Montjuic though, and wins for their near rivals meant that Espanyol dropped back down into the bottom three. Still the fans are hopeful that under Moya that will only be a temporary occurrence.