The home faithful paid tribute to their skipper before kick-off after the veteran frontman became the club's all-time highest goalscorer in last week's Catalan derby against Barcelona.

Tamudo received a standing ovation from the home support as he ran onto the pitch and marked the occasion by netting his 113th league goal, which puts him two ahead of the club's previous top scorer, Rafael Maranon.

However, Tamudo's strike was not enough for Espanyol as 10-man Deportivo fought back to win the points in manager Joaquin Caparros' last game in charge.

Iglesias Iago, Sergio Gonzalez and Ivan Riki scored the goals for the visitors after Tamudo had put Espanyol in front from the penalty spot.

A Deportivo win had seemed unlikely early on when defender Jorge Andrade was sent off following a bizarre incident after 13 minutes.

The Portugal international was cautioned for refusing to give the ball back before a corner, and was then shown a second yellow card for dissent.

Despite the sending-off, Depor almost went ahead after 16 minutes, but Cristian Hidalgo saw his long-range effort deflected just wide.

Four minutes later, Tamudo found himself one-on-one with Deportivo goalkeeper Dudu Aouate, but delayed for too long and Filipe got back to make a last-ditch tackle.

Espanyol threatened again after 36 minutes, but defender Jesus Maria Lacruz was unable to get on the end of Luis Garcia's dangerous free-kick.

With both teams safe from relegation and unable to qualify for Europe, the game was unsurprisingly played at a slow pace.

The first half produced very little in the way of goalmouth action and predictably ended goalless.

However, things quickly changed after the break as Espanyol took the lead in the 47th minute.

Alberto Lopo upended Tamudo in the area and the Espanyol captain put the home side ahead with a well-taken penalty.

Luis Garcia should then have doubled his side's lead four minutes later, but shot just wide following a quick counter-attack.

He would later rue that miss as Deportivo scored twice in the space of two minutes to turn the game around.

First Iago fired home from close range to level matters on the hour mark, and then Gonzalez crashed home an unstoppable drive from outside the area in Deportivo's very next attack.

At the other end, young forward Ferran Corominas then wasted a glorious opportunity to equalise by sending a tame effort straight at Aouate.

Defender Marc Torrejon came closer to levelling the scores after 76 minutes, but the Spain Under-21 international saw his bullet header crash against the crossbar following a corner.

Nine minutes later, there was to be no way back for Espanyol as Deportivo scored a third goal.

Substitute Riki had only been on the field for three minutes when he beat Gorka Iraizoz with a perfectly-executed lob from just inside the area to ensure a final-day victory for the Galicians.

Both teams finished in the bottom half of the Primera Liga, although well clear of the relegation zone.