25 August 2002 - Deportivo's Game Of Threes

On 25 August 2002, Deportivo de La Coruña won their third Supercopa de España, beating Valencia 4-0 over two legs.



They had all but secured the trophy in the first leg played one week earlier at the Estadio Riazor in La Coruña. It had been a heated battle that spilled over into the stands, as Valencia keeper Santiago Canizares was struck by an object thrown from the crowd at the end of the match, which Deportivo won 3-0.



The emotions carried into the second leg, played at Valencia's Estadio Mestalla. In only the third minute, Valencia defender Roberto Ayala was sent off for elbowing striker Roy Makaay. Down to 10 men, the hosts were unable to create much of an attack while Deportivo were content to protect their 3-goal aggregate lead.



Tempers continued to flare and Valencia nearly had a second player sent off after left back Fabio Aurelio delivered a nasty challenge on midfielder Juan Carlos Valeron. Although the challenge could have earned a red card, the referee saw fit to issue a yellow.



There were a few other dust-ups before Deportivo midfielder Victor Sanchez scored in the 90th minute to end the competition as a 4-0 aggregate win. It was Deportivo's third win in three tries and they are the competition's third most successful team, after Real Madrid and Barcelona.

6 March 2002 - Real Madrid's Unwanted Birthday Present

On 6 March 2002, Real Madrid celebrated their 100th birthday with a loss to Deportivo de La Coruña in the Copa del Rey Final.

With Real Madrid's 100th anniversary falling on 6 March 2002, club president Florentino Pérez arranged to mark the date by hosting the Copa del Rey Final on that day. He further instructed manager Vicente Del Bosque to place a higher priority on the cup, which Madrid had not won since 1993. The previous season, they had been eliminated in the Round of 64 by third-division side Toledo.

But Deportivo, who had won La Liga in 2000 and finished second to Real Madrid in 2001, had no intention of letting the hosts claim the cup as birthday present. They swarmed around the ball in the first half with an energy and determination that quickly caught Madrid off-guard. In just the 6th minute, midfielder Sergio González (pictured) fired Deportivo ahead from close range after beating Madrid captain Fernando Hierro and right back Míchel Salgado to slip the ball through the legs of keeper César. Just over half an hour later, striker Diego Tristán doubled the lead with another close-range shot.

Madrid closed the gap to one with a goal from Raúl Gonzalez, but they would get no closer. The match ended 1-2 to Deportivo, giving them only the second Copa del Rey in club history.

Real Madrid got some consolation a little over two months later when they won their ninth European Cup/Champions League trophy, beating Bayer Leverkusen 1-2 in Glasgow.

29 August 2009 - Ronaldo Opens His La Liga Account

On 29 August 2009, Real Madrid began their second Galacticos period, opening their La Liga season at home against Deportivo de La Coruña. The match marked the first league appearance for their record £80 million signing, Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo, who rewarded the Madrid faithful by scoring his first league goal.

Ronaldo started the match alongside fellow Madrid debutants Kaká, Karim Benzema, and Xabi Alonso, all part of Real's €250M summer spending spree. It was veteran forward Raul, however, who put the hosts ahead with a 26th-minute goal. Ronaldo nearly doubled the lead three minutes later, but his header went over the bar.

After Deportivo equalized in the 30th minute with a header from forward Riki, Ronaldo got another chance, as keeper Daniel Aranzubia brought Raul down in the box in the 35th minute and the winger converted the penalty kick. The visitors drew level again in the next minute, leaving Real midfielder Lassana Diarra to score the match-winning goal in the 60th minute.

7 March 1965 - The Closing Bookend On A Very Long Shelf

On 7 March 1965, Atlético Madrid walked off the pitch with a rare 0-1 victory over Real Madrid at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. Before that match, Atlético's Madrid rivals had rattled off a record-shattering string of 121 unbeaten league matches at home - a streak that stretched back over eight years to the 1956-57 season. Coincidentally, Real's run started after a 0-2 home loss to Atlético on 3 February 1957, making Atlético the bookend for both ends of the streak.

The first match of the 121 was a 1-0 victory over Deportivo on 17 February 1957, followed by wins over Barcelona (1-0), Valencia (2-0), and Celta (4-1) to close with season with Real at the top of the table for their fifth league title. They went unbeaten at home for the next seven full seasons, again winning the league in five of them, with their biggest margins of victory coming against Las Palmas (10-1 on 4 January 1959) and Elche (11-2 on 7 February 1960).

Real's dominance was so complete that, of the 121 unbeaten matches, all but nine were wins, with those nine draws coming against eight different teams. Sevilla was the only one to avoid defeat twice, with a 1-1 draws on 2 October 1960 and 12 April 1964.

Atlético's win was not enough to keep Real from winning the title for a fifth consecutive time - their 11th league title overall - but they did not finish the season empty-handed, either, beating Real Zaragoza 1-0 to claim the 1965 Copa del Rey.

5 November 2003 - This One Goes To Eleven

On 5 November 2003, Monaco defeated Deportivo de La Coruña 8-3 in a Champions League group stage match at Stade Louis II. It remains the highest-scoring match in the tournament since the Champions League began in 1992.

Deportivo won the earlier meeting on 21 October by the narrow margin of 1-0 thanks to an 83rd minute goal from striker Diego Tristán. The rematch, however, was decided much earlier. The Spanish side fell behind 4-0 in the first half hour due to goals from Monaco midfielders Jérôme Rothen (2') and Ludovic Giuly (11'), plus a brace from striker Miladin "Dado" Pršo (pictured) (25', 29'), who was celebrating his 29th birthday. Tristán (39') and wingback Lionel Scaloni (44') pulled Deportivo within two just before the break, but left enough time for Pršo to complete his birthday hat-trick in the second minute of stoppage time.

At the half, Deportivo substituted goalkeepers, replacing José Molina with Gustavo Munua, but the change proved ineffective. Monaco kept applying the pressure with a 47th-minute goal from midfielder Jaroslav Plašil. Pršo added his fourth two minutes later, to stretch the lead to 7-2. Tristán scored his second in the 52nd minute, but Monaco midfielder Édouard Cissé found the net in the 67th minute to restore the 5-goal lead.

Monaco drew their final two group stage matches, but finished at the top of Group C and advanced to the Final, where they lost to Porto. Deportivo finished second in the group and were eliminated in the semi-finals, also by Porto.