A pleasant Sunday evening with a good crowd in the stands. On the pitch, Mel opted for a 1-4-1-3-2 formation, N’Diaye as pivot, Fran Villalba as playmaker, Jozabed and Febas on the inside and the main new addition of Loren Zúñiga, on the attack together with Rubén Castro.
Málaga stepped out with pace in the opening minutes, against an Andorran team forced to contain in their own half. Jozabed, in the first quarter of an hour, had two good options that he was unable to convert into shots on goal. Eder Sarabia's men, little by little, entered the game and enjoyed more possession of the ball.
N’Diaye, with a powerful shot from the edge of the area, tried his luck in 31’. Then in the 40th minute, Altimira generated a dangerous chance for Andorra from the right. However, after 45 minutes the scoreboard still showed a 0-0 tie.
Málaga came close early on in the second half. A header from Esteban Burgos tested Lizoain’s reflexes in 47’. Pepe Mel made two changes in 56’, bringing on Luis Muñoz and Fran Sol for Fran Villalba and Loren.
Bakis, in 60’, could have scored for the visitors in a rapid counterattack. Three minutes later, in a similar action, Manolo Reina prevented Andorra taking a 0-1 lead with a superb save from a Germán Valera attempt. In 65’, the third Blue and White substitution saw Ramón join play for Jozabed. Then Bakis, as well as Reina, were protagonists again in 69’, featuring another great save from the keeper as the fans held their breath.
In the closing stages, an exhausted Febas made way for Genaro in midfield (79). Five minutes before the 90th minute, and following a VAR check, the referee sent off Pastor from the visitors as he blocked Rubén Castro on the edge of the area. The team didn’t manage to generate a clear scoring opportunity during the six minutes of stoppage time, and the match ended 0-0.
The third consecutive draw, all three with Pepe Mel heading up the team, and the second consecutive game with a clean sheet for Málaga CF, in 22nd place in LaLiga SmartBank with six points.
