Deportivo La Coruña 3 - Barcelona 3

Deportivo: Molina; Manuel Pablo, Coloccini, Andrade (Juanma 35'), Capdevila; De Guzman, Sergio, Duscher, Munitis; Valerón (Rubén Castro 57'); Diego Tristán (Taborda 53'). 4-4-1-1.
Barcelona: Víctor Valdés; Belletti, Oleguer, Puyol, Sylvinho; Xavi, Márquez (Edmilson 46'), Deco; Giuly (Ezquerro 75'), Eto'o, Ronaldinho. 4-3-3.

Team changes: Depor: Coloccini, De Guzman for Romero, Rubén Castro / Barça: Sylvinho, Xavi for Gio Van Bronckhorst, Iniesta.

Goals:
1-0. 09. Valerón. Drove ball back into net after Munitis shot came back off post.
1-1. 40. Eto'o. Picked up return pass from Deco and fired shot wide of Molina.
1-2. 45. Ronaldinho. Collected pass from Eto'o and beat Manuel Pablo to score.
1-3. 51. Ronaldinho (penalty). After Molina brought down Deco in the area.
2-3. 71. Munitis. Cut in past Oleguer and curled shot into far corner of net.
3-3. 86. Rubén Castro. Following up after Taborda shot came back off post.

A topsy-turvey game at the Riazor stadium, where Barcelona came back from a goal down at Deportivo to score three times and then see their opponents fight back for a 3-3 draw. The pre-match build up was all about whether Frank Rijkaard would include Leo Messi in his line up after the Galician club denounced the B team player for appearing in the last match, but in the end the coach left him out of the squad as he had only arrived hours before from his international committments with Argentina.

The Catalans started well, with Eto'o shooting wide early on. But in the ninth minute a Munitis shot came back off the post, and Valerón drove the ball back past Valdés to put the home side ahead. Eto'o levelled the scores though five minutes before the break, chesting down a pass from Ronaldinho and playing a one-two with Deco before firing in a shot which Molina could not prevent entering the net. And before the half time whistle Barça were in front after Ronaldinho collected a square pass from Eto'o and left Manuel Pablo for dead before slotting the ball wide of the keeper.

The visitors kept up the pressure after the break, Molina doing well to keep out Eto'o in the first minute. But soon afterwards the game appeared to be over when the keeper crashed in to Deco, and Ronaldinho scored a third from the resulting penalty. Eto'o hit the post and Juanma had to clear off the line from Ronaldinho as Barça looked to wrap things up, but they were caught out when Munitis picked up Sergio's pass on the right wing and turned past Oleguer before curling a long shot past Valdés.

The goal revitalized Depor, Capdevila heading over the bar and Taborda directing another header just wide of goal. And with four minutes to go De Guzman set up Taborda for him to fire a shot against the foot of the post, and Rubén reacted quickly to collect the rebound and score the equaliser. Both sides ended the day in the UEFA cup spots pending Sunday's results, but Barcelona must be ruing the fact that they didn't close down their opponents when they had the chance.