Tim Hobbs reports

A double from Dely Valdes left Leeds' season in tatters and nudged Terry Venables even closer to the Elland Road exit.

The Panamanian's double strike saw Malaga through to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup on another embarrassing night for Leeds - even by their recent wretched standards.

Europe was supposed to provide a welcome respite from the rigours of Premiership football, but although they did level the tie through Eirik Bakke, Venables and his side failed to break away from the nervous, nothing football that has left them both on the brink.

The one consolation for an Elland Road crowd that kept their displeasure on hold until the final whistle is that they can now follow the old cliche and concentrate on the league - and preserving their top-flight status.

Whether Venables can do the same with his job remains to be seen. As soon as the game started a fan broke through the security cordon to vent his feelings at the underfire Leeds boss and thereafter his players did little to enhance the ex-England man's battered image.

More injury woe for Bridges

Lee Bowyer was lucky to escape a red card for an early hack and stamp on Gerardo, which is sure to attract the attentions of a UEFA video panel that has already accounted for Craig Bellamy and Alan Shearer this season.

Michael Bridges' concerns are slightly more serious. The striker's career is back in the balance after rupturing his Achilles tendon in the opening stages - which means his season, if not his top-flight existence is all but over.

Given what had gone before it was no great surprise when Malaga took the lead and fittingly for Venables, the goal came in the 13th minute. The lively Kiki Musampa made mincemeat of a ringrusty Danny Mills down the Leeds right and cut back for veteran Dely Valdes to stab inside Paul Robinson's near post.

The striker then headed onto the top of the net before Gerardo forced Robinson to parry his fierce drive before beating Valdes to the rebound, with a little help from Jonathan Woodgate.

The England Under-21 has been above the recent criticism and again saved well from Romero from distance as those ahead of him produced a performance barely worthy of the West Riding Cup, never mind Europe's second biggest tournament.

And it was not just those who had been brought in on the back of a terrible injury list that were guilty. Bowyer, Bakke, Robbie Fowler and even Alan Smith are used to competing with Europe's best, but were woefully off colour, which hardly helped the nerves of Michael Duberry, emergency left-back Gary Kelly and the lamentable Jason Wilcox.

Smith picks up another card

Bakke did offer some false hope by volleying home after Fowler's clever cutback midway through the first half, but although they were fortunate to keep the crowd on their side, Leeds looked anything but a team that once reached the Champions League semi-finals.

Only Bowyer - who was the victim of some unsavoury challenges - with a diving header early in the second half, threatened to breach a Malaga side that had done their homework and disrupted the flow all night.

Not that Leeds ever built up a head of steam. Even chasing the goal that would have put them alongside Liverpool and Celtic in the last 16, they could not muster a decent effort and were again indebted to Robinson for denying Musampa with another flying stop.

And then, the Elland Road roof caved in. Woodgate let Dely Valdes go and after picking up a ball in the right channel, he danced back inside the defender's desperate covering tackle before bending a calm finish beyond the keeper and inside the far post.

It still left 10 minutes for a grandstand finish and the chance for Leeds to recapture the glory days of old and salvage something from a season that already has the stench of relegation and resigantion about it.

Instead we got chants of 'One David Batty', calls for coach and crowd favourite Eddie Gray, Smith missing a sitter before picking up his customary booking for a needless foul and we got Dario Silva forcing one last, excellent stop from Robinson low to his right.

Now to concentrate on the league...

Leeds: Robinson, Mills, Woodgate, Duberry, Kelly, Bowyer, Bakke, Okon, Wilcox, Smith, Bridges (Fowler 9).
Subs Not Used: Martyn, Harte, Radebe, McPhail, Seth Johnson, Kilgallon.
Booked: Bowyer, Smith.

Malaga: Contreras, Josemi, Fernando Sanz, Roteta, Valcarce, Manu (Sandro 57), Gerardo, Romero, Musampa (Miguel Angel 78), Silva, Dely Valdes (Litos 90).
Subs Not Used: Arnau, Iznata, Leko, Koke.
Booked: Gerardo, Valcarce, Silva, Fernando Sanz, Sandro.

Att: 34,123
Ref: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)