Alaves beaten by 10-man Deportivo Coruna
Deportivo Coruna kept their faint Spanish title hopes alive on Friday as they recovered from a goal down and the early sending-off of Noureddine Naybet to beat UEFA Cup finalists Alaves 2-1 in a game of three penalties.
Deportivo Coruna kept their faint Spanish title hopes alive on Friday as they recovered from a goal down and the early sending-off of Noureddine Naybet to beat UEFA Cup finalists Alaves 2-1 in a game of three penalties.
Alaves, who face Liverpool in their first European final on Wednesday, were gifted the lead on 15 minutes as aybet was sent off for what appeared to be an arm to the face of Javi Moreno, who scored from the resulting spot-kick. Deportivo came back to take the points, though, as Diego Tristan stroked in two penalties either side of halftime following two Cosmin Contra fouls on Victor.
The result strengthened Deportivo's hold on second place in the table and took them to within five points of leaders Real Madrid.
Real have 69 points from 33 matches, with Depor on 64 having played a game more. Vicente del Bosque's Real side can regain an eight-point lead with four games left to play with victory at home to Espanyol on Sunday.