Deportivo La Coruña

On a spring night at Riazor in 2004, a Deportivo side that had gone into the second leg against Milan with barely a hope of survival forced its way through to the Champions League semi-finals.

That group had already earned its own name, SuperDépor, for the run built under coach Javier Irureta between 1998 and 2004. Diego Tristán finished 2001/02 as La Liga's top scorer; Bebeto, and briefly Rivaldo, had passed through earlier. The team's silverware from the period: the La Liga title in 1999/2000, two Copa del Rey trophies either side of it in 1994/95 and 2001/02, and three Spanish Super Cups.

The fall took longer to arrive than the rise had. President Augusto César Lendoiro had financed the SuperDépor squads on credit, and by 2009 the debt stood at €160m. Relegation from La Liga followed in 2011, the club's first in twenty years, then again in 2013, and for good in 2018. In 2020, with the pandemic underway, a league ruling sent Deportivo down further still, into the third tier. Three years later, control of the club passed to Abanca, the bank.

Derby weekends still mean Celta Vigo, the Derbi Galego.