Málaga and Granada reached their first match together of the season in the third and fourth place of the table, respectively, with just a slight difference of one point. Despite the outcome of the match, a festive atmosphere prevailed among the fans in the pre-match. The surroundings of La Rosaleda were decked out in blue and white and red and white colours in a way that’s now already traditional for these Andalusian derbies.
As for the game itself, the Malaguistas tried to open the scoring very early, in the first moments of the game. But the home side’s top scorer, Blanco Leschuk, didn’t manage to turn it over inside the area and couldn’t connect clearly with the ball (0-0 Min1). After the initial attempt, both teams upped the ante and fought hard over the ball in the middle of the pitch.
Ontiveros had the second clearest chance for the home side in the 21st minute. The winger was introduced into the heart of the area after an elusive individual play from the left flank, but his shot went wide of the far post due to the pressure of the Granada defense. The squad, led by Muñiz, turned up the attack in the closing stages of the first half, but failed to reach the opposite goal clearly. With a scoreless draw, we got to half time.
After the restart, Blanco again tried a pass from Pacheco, but his shot went wide in the 47th minute. Just six minutes later, Granada CF got ahead thanks to Montoro. The player took advantage of a rejection in the penalty area to get past Munir (0-1 Min53).
The Malaguista manager then shuffled the bench giving access to Renato Santos and Haksabanovic for Juanpi and Cifu and, although the Blue and Whites insisted on finding the opposite goal with the ongoing support of their fans, they didn’t manage to overcome their rival’s goalkeeper.
In the end, the 0-1 remained on the scoreboard as the referee blew the final whistle.
