Víctor Sánchez del Amo made six changes in respect of the last match against Cádiz at La Rosaleda. Namely, Munir returned to goal; Mikel was on the left of defence; Keidi and Adrián were in midfield; Renato and Antoñín were placed on the wing escorting Sadiku.
The team got off to a good start. Captain Adrián came close to surpassing Dani Giménez with a header in minute 4. Then in 7’, following a Montero clearance, the ball landed in the local area. In minute 11’, Sadiku launched the first shot at goal for the Malaguistas. Dépor attempted to disrupt Málaga’s dominance of the game, but couldn’t. Renato, in 18’, had a chance from a good run on the right. Midway through the first half, the locals stepped up their attack, particularly on the right with an active Mollejo.
However, Málaga CF continued to show much more danger on their attacks. Antoñín, with an acrobatic shot, skied the ball over the crossbar in 32’. The player from La Palmilla, in a textbook counter-attack, connected with Cristo and the reserve team full-back tried his luck in 39’. The goal was about to arrive, and it stemmed from a corner. A cross from Renato, an extension from an Antoñin header and Mikel, at the far post, drove the ball into the back of the net (0-1, 42’). At half-time, the scoreboard showed a minimal, yet well-deserved lead for the visitors.
The tone of the match remained the same at the start of the second half. Cristo, brimming with resources and quality, had a double chance to increase the lead to 0-2 that resulted in two fantastic saves from Dani Giménez in 49’. Deportivo, meanwhile, didn’t find any space to penetrate the solid defence until well into the second half.
MCF followed their game plan. In 67’ Renato forced Dani to make another intervention after a very powerful long shot. Four minutes later, VSDA made the first substitution. Diego González replaced goal-scorer Mikel Villanueva in defence. In 78’, Cristo generated another great opportunity from the left. A perfect pass from the homegrown player and Sadiku, one-on-one with the goalkeeper, crossed the ball too far to the left post. Hicham substituted Antoñín and, immediately afterwards, Sadiku narrowly missed out on a goal with an accurate attempt that was saved by Dani. Moments later, in 79’. Longo could have equalised with a shot at goal that grazed Munir’s right post.
Then in 85’, Boulahroud came on in place of Renato to strengthen the wide area. Dani Giménez made an error in a clearance outside the area and an attentive Sadiku took advantage of the mistake to head the ball into the net (0-2, 87’). The third league goal for the Albanian player, the Malaguista ‘pichichi’ so far this season. As such, Málaga CF seals the second victory of the season away from Martiricos to reach 11 points in LaLiga SmartBank. Vamos, Málaga!
