He played the 1998 World Cup in France and in 2001 he won the Copa América with Colombia in his own country by scoring the only goal in the final 2025-26 mexico jersey against Mexico. In the summer of 2005 it was clear that Deportivo would not play European football for the first time since 1998. That was only a few less than the 63 points in 1997/98 and the 68 points in 1998/1999. With 69 points, Deportivo is the champion with the fewest points since three points were awarded for a victory in 1995. Second on that list is the FC Barcelona championship in 1997/1998 with 74 points. FC Barcelona never achieved more than 64 points in the years 2000-2003, and Real Madrid only achieved 62 points in the 1999/2000 season. Ten minutes before the end, a goal from Soldado turned out to be the final blow: 0-2. What Deportivo could have saved at that moment was a victory for Levante at home against Zaragoza, but the home team did not get any further than 1-2. See Deportivo La Coruña in the 2000/01 season for the main article on this subject.

In Europe, the team recovered with a 0-0 draw at Juventus and a 2-0 win at home against the Italians, who would win the title in their own country that season. In the league, the team finished the year 2001 as league leaders and the team again impressed against an English club with a 2-0 win over Arsenal. The club was relegated in 2011. Just like in the previous year, trainer Irureta did not receive any new players of significance to be able to select, despite the fact that players such as Maniche, Mascherano, Eto'o and Saviola were linked to the club. In July 2010, White returned to Arsenal after five years after Leeds Carnegie fell apart due to financial problems. In the final, France had problems with Spain's tough game. The highlight of the 2001/02 season would turn out to be the Copa del Rey final on March 6, 2002. Deportivo had a fairly easy route to the final with Marino, Leonesa, a round with L'Hospitalet that was canceled (because of the type of field of the Catalans), Valladolid and Figueres. On February 27, 2001, Deportivo wrote history by winning 2-3 at FC Barcelona in the final second. With this, Deportivo became the first team in Champions League history not to score during the first group stage.

On August 24, he scored his first goal for Chelsea. Universidad de Chile won 5–1 with Henriquez scoring the final goal. Abraham scored an open goal within fifteen minutes after a pass from Rick Karsdorp. Walter Pandiani turned out to be Makaay's natural replacement and scored eight games in a row. In addition, attackers Walter Pandiani and Diego Tristán, among others, arrived. Walter Pandiani rebelled with comments towards Irureta and was loaned out to Birmingham City. It was a writing on the wall that Irureta was losing control of his squad. In the remainder of the competition there was the almost traditional victory over Real Madrid (2-0). However, when even chances of UEFA Cup football seemed lost, the official newspaper of Deportivo announced that Irureta would leave at the end of the season. Within a week, Gaspart had already lost one of the star players: Luís Figo made the forbidden switch to arch-rival Real Madrid. The crowning achievement was that Makaay was crowned European top scorer with 29 goals in the Liga, 9 in the Champions League and 1 in the Copa del Rey. Things also went wrong in the Copa del Rey after a 2-3 defeat in Riazor against Mallorca and a 1-1 draw on the island.

Atlético Madrid then eliminated Deportivo in the Copa del Rey, but the team got back on track in the competition with, among other things, a 0-5 win at fellow countryman Celta de Vigo and a 4-1 win against Real Zaragoza. The successes of the period 1992-2004 proved impossible to repeat under Joaquín Caparrós and Deportivo became a mid-engine. The fact that the leveling of the Spanish league in that period proved to be a strength is shown, among other things, by the Champions League final of 2000, which Real Madrid won 3-0 against Valencia. Until November 4, 2000, only one loss was lost (3-0 at Real Madrid). The revived Barcelona won 2-3 in Riazor, and Valencia also took revenge for an earlier defeat and won 3-0. In the quarterfinals of the Champions League, the defending champion and again an old acquaintance waited: AC Milan. Manchester United (the English champions of 1999, 2000 and 2001) had learned from the previous defeats in the season, won 0-2 in Riazor and finished the job at Old Trafford (3-2). Three games before the end, the chance of the Spanish title was also lost due to a 1-0 defeat at Valencia, which would become champions.