Deportivo La Coruña 3 - Celta Vigo 0

Deportivo: Munúa; Héctor, Andrade, Pablo Amo, Capdevila; Sergio, Duscher; Munitis, Valerón (Amavisca 46'), Fran (Víctor 83'); Pandiani (Iván Pérez 67'). 4-2-3-1.
Celta: Cavallero; Velasco, Méndez, Berizzo, Sylvinho; Luccin, Borja Oubiña, Giovanella (Gustavo López 43'); Edu, Mostovoi (Angel 46'); Milosevic (Pinilla 69'). 4-3-2-1.

Team changes: Deportivo: Duscher, Munitis, Fran, Pandiani for Mauro Silva, Scaloni, Luque, Diego Tristán / Celta: Berizzo, Sylvinho for Cáceres, Juanfran.

Goals:
1-0. 14. Sylvinho (own goal). Turned Fran's cross past own keeper into net.
2-0. 24. Pandiani. Connected with Fran's pass and fired shot wide of Cavallero.
3-0. 26. Munitis. Picked up Sergio through ball and beat keeper on the turn.

Relegation candidates Celta had hopes that their neighbours Deportivo La Coruña would give them a helping hand in their local derby, but Irureta's side were not in a benevolent mood and ran out 3-0 winners to leave their fellow Galicians down in the relegation spots, with one foot (and two or three toes) in the second division. The local manager had at least fielded a weakened side, Munúa, Pablo Amo and Munitis all given rare starts, but even so they were more than a match for their opponents. With less than a quarter of an hour gone the locals were one up, Sylvinho turning Fran's cross past his own keeper, and Pandiani and Fran both went close soon afterwards.

The match was already over as a contest midway through the first half after Depor got two more in the space of three minutes, Pandiani latching on to Fran's centre to bend a shot inside the far post and Munitis running on to Sergio's through ball to beat Cavallero again. After that there was no way back, and Irureta decided to give a run out in the second half to Amavisca and to Iván Pérez (brother of Betis striker Alfonso) who was making his first appearance of the season.

Things got even worse for the Vigo based side later on when Berizzo was shown his fourth red card of the season for a foul on Munitis, and the match ended without further incident. The defeat for Celta means that Real Sociedad, Zaragoza and Racing Santander can all rest easy, as although Moncho Carnero's side could catch up with them on points, their head to head records against them are all in their favour. That just leaves Celta, Valladolid and Espanyol for the two remaining relegation spots, and a win for Espanyol tomorrow at Mallorca would condemn the other two to the drop.