Rotation the key for Deportivo

This is RC Deportivo La Coruña's second adventure in the UEFA Champions League and just as in last season’s competition, they look capable of going all the way to the final in Glasgow next May.

Among the favourites
In the 2000/01 tournament, the club’s first-ever sortie into Europe’s premier club competition, the then Primera División champions surprised many independent observers by making it through to the quarter-finals. They lost just two group matches out of 12 along the way and won their first and second stage groups before being knocked out by Leeds United AFC. However, in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League, Deportivo have not been underestimated by their opponents, many of whom regard them as one of the favourites to lift the trophy.

Squad rotation
Javier Irureta is a rarity among European coaches in that he has successfully managed to integrate a policy of player rotation at the Municipal de Riazor without affecting the team’s performances, or without alienating the large contingent of star players at the club. At Deportivo, the team is constantly changed from one game to the next and with a squad to cope with the joint demands of domestic and European club football, that policy has served the coach well.

New arrivals
Having lifted their maiden Spanish first division title in 2000, Deportivo struggled to combine the heavy demands of attempting to retain that title with progressing in Europe, but they still managed to finish second behind champions Real Madrid CF and earn a place in this season’s Champions League.  Irureta recognised in the summer that he would have to strengthen his squad if a repeat of last season’s disappointments were not to follow, hence the summer arrivals of the vastly experienced former Madrid midfield player José Amavisca, Spanish international midfield player Sergio González, Yugoslavian international centre-back Goran Djorovic and wing-back Héctor Berenguel.

FIRST GROUP STAGE: Europe takes note

Deportivo went through the whole of this season's first group stage undefeated in a group containing the 1999 champions Manchester United FC, surprise French first division package Lille OSC and Olympiakos Piraeus FC. Their overall record was exactly the same as the results thr the club achieved at the same stage of the competition last year: two wins and four draws.
Those two wins came home and away against FA Premiership champions United, a feat that have given the team the confidence and belief that they can go on and emulate Madrid and FC Barcelona as the only Spanish clubs to have lifted the European Champion Clubs’ Cup.

Comeback kings
Deportivo’s opening fixture in Group G was at home to Olympiakos, a match that they were expected to win with some comfort, especially given the fact that the team from the Ethniki Katigoria had never won an away fixture in the history of the Champions League. With ten minutes remaining in La Coruña, things were going according to plan, with Deportivo leading through a 22nd-minute Fran González strike. However, three minutes later you could hear a pin drop in the Riazor as the visitors stole a sensational 2-1 lead. Cue Juan Valerón's 94th-minute equaliser, something that the home fans have become used over the years. In fact, if there is a motto attached to the Galician side, then it would have to be: "It’s not over until it’s over," as the team went on to demonstrate in their next fixture, at home to United.

Déjà Vu
Again Irureta’s side were trailing going into the final five minutes of a home game (in last season’s Champions League game at home to Paris Saint-Germain FC, Deportivo had trailed 3-0 going into the final quarter of the match before a Walter Pandiani hat-trick inspired them to a sensational 4-3 victory) and again they emerged from it unscathed. On this occasion, they went one better than in their previous match and scored twice in the final five minutes to record a famous 2-1 win thanks to strikes from that man Pandiani and a 90th-minute Nourredine Naybet winner.

Dreamland
On Matchday Three it was Deportivo’s turn to experience late heartbreak when Lille’s Adekanmi Olufade cancelled out a stunning Valerón solo run with just three minutes remaining to leave Deportivo well placed at the halfway stage of the first group stages, top of the group on five points, despite losing experienced Spanish international right-back Manuel Pablo García with a broken leg for the rest of the season. An away fixture at United’s Old Trafford stadium, known as the ‘Theatre of Dreams,’ is usually a daunting task for most sides. However despite conceding a seventh-minute goal to Ruud van Nistelrooij, Deportivo showed great strength of character to fight back and take the lead through González and a fine Diego Tristán header. The home team thundered back through Van Nistelrooij again to leave the two teams locked at 2-2 at the break, but a Fabien Barthez blunder, his second of the match, allowed Tristán to score his second of the night and complete a memorable 3-2 victory.

Mission accomplished
That result all but guaranteed Deportivo’s safe passage through to the second group stages of the tournament and a point at home to Lille on Matchday Five confirmed their progression. Amazingly for Deportivo, there were no late goals on this occasion, Tristán notching up his third goal of the Champions League before a Bruno Cheyrou penalty left the sides locked at 1-1. This was also the scoreline in Deportivo’s final Group G fixture in Athens thanks to an 84th minute equaliser from the head of Joan Capdevila.

SECOND GROUP STAGE: High hopes

Drawn in Group D alongside Juventus FC, Arsenal FC and Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the second group stage of the competition, Irureta and his side would have been confident of progressing to the quarter-finals, especially given Arsenal’s poor away record in Europe, Juventus’ stuttering domestic form and Leverkusen’s two defeats in the first group stages. Not only that, but Deportivo had lost just twice in the 18 group games that they had played in two seasons of Champions League football. Group D’s opening match saw Arsenal visit the Riazor on 21 November and the FA Premiership team lived up to their pre-match billing as being poor travelers by meekly succumbing to first-half strikes from Dutch international striker Roy Makaay and the prolific Tristán. However, in their final European match before the winter break, Deportivo suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat in the BayArena, despite going in at the break on level terms. This result came during a period of domestic defeats for the team that have left a question mark hanging over their ambition to be the number one team in Europe.

REMAINING GAMES: Lippi’s Juventus await

Deportivo return to Champions League action next February with a crunch home-and-away clash with Serie A giants Juventus, who they met in the first group stage of last season’s competition, knocking them out of Europe by drawing 0-0 in Turin before beating them 1-0 at home. A visit to Highbury stadium next March could well decide whether it will be a second successive quarter-finals appearance for Deportivo or a push to reclaim the Spanish first division title without European distractions. Arsenal have so far notched four wins out of four in Europe this season at home, do a point would be a good result for Irureta. Deportivo finish the group at home to Leverkusen - a game from which they may need all three points to progress to the knock-out stages.

THE COACH: Javier 'Irureta' Iruretagoyena

53-year-old Basque coach who, after spells with Real Oviedo (1989/93), Racing Santander (1993/94), Athletic Club Bilbao (1995/96), Real Sociedad (1996/97), and RC Celta de Vigo (1997/98), found success in La Coruña with Deportivo, leading them to their first-ever Primera División crown in 1999/00.

Miracle worker
During his playing career in the 1970s, Irureta was known as a stylish and elegant attacking midfield player for Club Atlético de Madrid and then Bilbao. He won six caps for the Spanish national side. Having earned his reputation at bringing the best out of some of Spain’s smaller clubs, such as Oviedo, who he guided to fourth in the league in 1990 and a place in Europe (as well as their first-ever win at the Camp Nou) he went on to prove his many critics wrong when Deportivo won the league. The Spanish press had claimed that his tactics were too negative to ever bring success to the club and in May 2001 he signed a one-year extension to his contract, keeping him in Galicia until the summer of 2002. It is widely believed that he will then depart the Riazor to try out his hand at a new club, possibly Valencia CF, or even the Spanish national team.

THE PLAYER: Diego Tristán Herrera

Before signing for Deportivo in August 2000, Tristán had made his name as a goalscorer with Real Betis Balompié’s B team (22 goals in 57 games between 1995/98) and although he failed to make into the club’s first team, he then moved to RCD Mallorca, where his career really took off. Having played one season for Mallorca’s B team (1998/99,) he was promoted to the first team in 1999, scoring 18 times in 35 Primera División games.

Madrid interested
Amazingly, Tristán did not actually start playing football until the age of 17, but it did not take him long to establish himself across Europe as a powerfully-built centre-forward who attracted the attention of the then champions of Europe, Madrid, before he settled for Galicia and Deportivo as a replacement for the then injured striker Makaay. Rumour has it that had Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz remained as president at the Santiago Bernabéu, Tristán would have moved to the Spanish capital instead.

Debut goal
Tristán threatened to quit Deportivo in early 2000/01 when he found himself in and out of the side, but eventually he won a regular place and repaid coach Irureta’s faith in him by scoring freely. His career looks set to take off after scoring on his international debut in the summer of 2001 in Spain’s 3-1 FIFA World Cup qualifying win over Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Hot streak
Tristán possesses all the attributes of a top-class finisher and ended the 2000/01 campaign with 23 goals. The Seville-born forward has already notched up four goals in this season’s Champions League, making him one of the hottest properties in Europe.

DOMESTIC FORM: Away form needs improving

With just under half the season played in Spain, Deportivo stand at the head of the Primera División with 33 points from their 18 games, one clear of champions Madrid. No team in the league has won as many games as Irureta’s, but a recent dip in form has cast grave doubts as to their ability to win the league: at one point between 27 October and 4 December, they lost five straight games away from home in all competitions, including 3-1 to CD Tenerife and 4-1 to struggling Mallorca. However since they lost 1-0 at RCD Espanyol, they have managed to go three league games without defeat, winning two of them.

Key factor
The key to Deportivo’s 2002 is their ability to pick up points away from home, something that almost cost them the title in 2000. No one has ever doubted their strength at the Riazor, where they have the most formidable record of any side in Europe, but occasional bouts of travel sickness, both in the Champions League, as seen when they lost 3-0 to Leverkusen and in the Primera División, must be overcome if they are to remain top come next May.