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Defeat at home against Fuenlabrada (0-1)

The Malaguistas didn’t manage any points against the Madrid-based outfit in a game decided by a Nteka goal from the penalty spot in the opening stages.

Málaga CF hosted CF Fuenlabrada at La Rosaleda, on matchday 36 of LaLiga SmartBank. Pellicer introduced four changes in respect of the previous starting line-up in Las Palmas, bringing on Dani Barrio, Joaquín, Escassi and Stefan, his first time in the starting-11. Jozabed fractured the third metacarpal bone in his left hand in yesterday’s training, so wasn’t available to play today.

The Malaguistas stepped out of the dressing room tunnel wearing shirts reading “Always dare to dream”. Play got underway with a deflected header from Lombán following a Ramón lateral free kick around minute 5. With both sides finding their feet on the pitch, the first setback arrived for Málaga. The referee called a penalty for a Matos hand ball inside the area following a cross from the right.  Nteka launched the ball past Dani Barrio from the 11-metre mark to put the visitors in the lead (0-1, min 11).

The Blue and Whites attempted to rebuild themselves and in 16’, Caye headed the ball wide from a Ramón cross. There were several occasions in this stage of the game. Former Malaguista, Mula, highly motivated during play, generated two very clear chances. One went high and the other was saved by Dani Barrio. The Asturian goalkeeper was forced to make another impressive save from a Borja Garcés attempt.

Half an hour into play, Yanis headed the ball out whilst the visitors narrowly missed out on a second goal, yet the Malaguista defence saved Mula’s shot in goal. There were many interruptions up until the half-time whistle, including a standout shot from Ciss that was stopped in its tracks by Dani Barrio.

In the second half, Pellicer introduced two changes as play resumed. Jairo and Cristo came on in place of Stefan and Matos, with the formation going from 1-4-4-2 to 1-4-5-1, with Joaquín acting as playmaker with Caye. The game remained somewhat imprecise and there were barely any approaches to the rival goal. A shot from Nteka in 58’ preceded the most promising opportunity for the Malaguistas up until this point. In 64’, Caye at the post finished a cross from Cristo on the left. Beforehand, Cristian replaced Ramón to bring more verticality to midfield.

Mula, in 75’, propelled a shot at the target, then a minute later Larrubia came on in place of Joaquín, whilst the final substitution saw Orlando Sá join play and Yanis Rahmani step off. Cristian Rodríguez tried his luck from the edge of the area in the 90th minute without success.

With this result, Málaga CF remain with 49 points in a mid-table position and next week are away to RCD Espanyol.