Survival the name of the game as Deportivo punch above their weight

Nick Hornby said it best in Fever Pitch when he suggested that the natural state of the football fan is one of bitter disappointment, no matter what the score. Sitting in the Estadio Riazor last Sunday evening as more than 33,000 Deportivo La Coruña supporters shuffled out glumly onto the sun-speckled streets on the back of a 2-0 win over Levante spoke painfully for that.

With results elsewhere falling against them, Depor now found themselves in a more precarious position in La Liga at the final whistle than they had at the first.

Rarely can the local brew of choice, the wonderfully more-ish Estrella Galicia beer, have tasted as bitter in victory as it did five nights ago because the scene as the season’s last day dawns tomorrow does not look favourable.