Day 34/ Deportivo v Espanyol

congrats, depor...

Liga Preview: Deportivo-Espanyol
Deportivo - Espanyol | News Archive

Eyeing Europe (Allsport)
04/13/2002. BACKGROUND

Deportivo are caught in no-man's land after crashing out of the Champions League to Manchester United in midweek. The Galicians can now focus on the Liga title, although the four-point gap with pace-setters Real Madrid and Valencia seems to large to fill.

However with the last game of the season at home against the Merengues, Depor know they must keep up the fight. A seemingly easy home game against Espanyol should serve their ambitions well.

Javier Irureta comes into this Liga finale with three games to play at home. The praised tecnico knows a Champions League is within reach of his team, which would crown a successful season after the capture of the Copa del Rey last month.

A spectacular last-minute title would be the icing on the cake for Deportivo. La Riazor would then cancel sad memories of 1995, when Valencia torn their hopes to pieces by snatching a stubborn draw to let Barcelona become champions.

Deportivo need a boost and a great game to take off the grudge of the Duscher-Beckham incident.

TEAM NEWS

Cesar, Duscher and José Manuel are all out due to muscle problems. Defender Goran Djorovic is back in the side, while Mauro Silva and Sergio have fully recovered from their lesions. Victor is doubtful as he is suffering from a thigh strain.

Probable: Molina; Scaloni, Naybet, Romero, Capdevila; Sergio, Mauro Silva; Makaay, Valerón, Fran; Diego Tristán.

Espanyol are only hoping to create as many problems to Depor as possible. To achieve this, coach Paco Flores welcomes back Enrique De Lucas and Ricardo Cavas, who were suspended last week.

Probable: Argensó, Navas, Lopo, Soldevilla, David García, Paulo Sousa, Morales, De Lucas, Roger, Palencia, Tamudo

FORM GUIDE

Deportivo (all comps, last six) : LWDLWL
Two defeats against Man United in the Champions League meant Depor were out of Europe. The situation is steady in the Liga where ample victories have flowed in like last week against Mallorca.

Espanyol: DWLLLW
The Catalans won against Celta to put an end to a series of three consecutive defeats. Still comfortable in mid-table, Espanyol have no hopes to land a European place next season.

SA PREDICTION

As easy as the Espanyol game may seem, Depor need more points to secure a Champions League spot next season. They should be able to reproduce last week's performance.

Different sources have confused me for the moment- some say that César is fit to play, some say he's still injured. If César won't make it it might be Romero who takes the center back position and frees a place in the left defence for Joan Capdevila. It seemed to work against Mallorca. Mauro Silva will surely return from injury.

We might go out with a slightly more offensive formation tonight, but I really doubt if that would do any good. The original line-up is impossible to predict, it might very well be different than the Soccerage one. Is Duscher out? Can anyone say? All information I've got is controversial... If Duscher is ok, I think he should be in the original line-up to prove that he isn't accused in anything by the club and to gain confidence. No way he shouldn't be left aside. If Duscher is fit then play DUSCHER!!!

We'll see if the £20'000 is paid out to players after tonight's match. I sure hope so.

Vamos, Depor:hopefull:!!

Makaay grabbed the first goal with a bullet header from a corner and Tristan then hit his 19th of the season when he completed a sweeping passing move with a cool finish which gave us a comfortable lead at half-time. Makaay made it three when he finished off a fine solo run by drawing keeper Alfredo Argenso wide before slotting into the empty net. Pablo Rotchen got a consolation goal for the visitors after 69 minutes but Deportivo hung on to extend their unbeaten streak to eight games.
Both sides ended the match with ten men after Espanyol's Toni Soldevilla got a red card for a reckless challenge and Mauro Silva was sent off after receiving 2 yellow cards.
The dismissal of Mauro Silva means that he will miss next weekend's crucial match at Valencia.
Valencia lead la Liga with 64 points from 34 games after their 1-1 draw at Real Mallorca on Saturday, Real are second with 63 and Deportivo 3rd with 62 points.

The club will have to pay the promised £20’000 to players after the key victories over Mallorca and Espanyol. This time coach Irureta’s prediction came true, he said that both Real and Valencia were likely to lose points.

Tristan currently leads la Liga top scorer table, followed closely by Morientes with 18 goals.