After the spectacular campaigns of the decade of 1970s, Palestino was slowly getting weaker, already without having that protagonism in the first division tournaments.

In 1986, Club Deportivo Palestino having Orlando Aravena as coach, made a great campaign on the local tournament, having to very few to being champion. In fact, there were moments where Palestino was 3 points ahead of Colo Colo, his main pursuer, but for punctual errors both teams keep the same points at the end of the tournament.

In the penultimate round, the team had to defeat Universidad de Chile, but he lost 1 to 0 with that cursed goal of Rojas, postponing the definition against Colo Colo who beated Cobresal, equaling 43 points to Palestino. The final match was won 2-0 by Colo Colo, drowning championship shout of all the team fanatics. The team could not recover from that lost final match, and ended up being defeated by Cobreloa in the qualifying playoffs for Copa Libertadores, running out of everything.

The following facts were not auspicious: In 1987, Oscar Fabbiani and Rodolfo Dubó got retired, two emblematic players of the team, and without a replacement of such level.

In 1988, the good news was the inauguration of the Municipal Stadium of La Cisterna, where Club Deportivo Palestino would play as local by an agreement with the Municipality of La Cisterna, but all of this was tarnished by a horrible campaign where the team finished last on the tournament, With the immediate consequence that Palestine was relegated to the Chilean Second Division.

In 1989, Palestino finishes first in its group of the Second Division, obtaining the promotion to the First Division, losing in a definition final match against Universidad de Chile.

In 1990, when Palestino returned to First Division, it did it with Manuel Pellegrini as coach, obtaining a decent 5th place.