Following three consecutive defeats, Málaga CF welcomes RCD Espanyol, looking to return to winning ways. A victory would allow the Malaguistas to get back to European classification. The Catalán side, after their victory against Betis last season, is in sixth place in the league with 15 points, one place higher than Málaga CF who’s seventh with 13 points.
Málaga Club de Fútbol faces the team that has won more times in the First Divison: 11 wins in 20 games, with four victories on Catalán soil. At La Rosaleda, the meetings between these teams have resulted in 7 victories for Málaga CF, 2 for Espanyol and one draw.
Playing against Espanyol is a classic for Málaga CF fans, who have great memories of this team. Málaga became known as ‘CF’ in the elite league of Spanish football in the 99/2000 season, their first match was against Espanyol. Peiro’s team won this historic match one-nil thanks to a goal by Catanha.
With regards to the players, Manuel Pellegrini has almost the entire first team at his disposition, including Salomón Rondón, who was out of the last game suffering with back pain. The only three unable to play are Baptista and Kris, who aren’t physically ready, and Eliseu who received a red card in the last game against Rayo Vallecano.
In the Catalan squad, Pochettino has formed a block of homegrown players that achieve results and play football at an intense pace. In defense, they’re showing strength and in attack they have formidable players such as Sergio García, Verdú and Álvaro and veteran Walter ‘El Rifle’Pandiani, who scored the goal against Betis.
With all this and after recent results, Málaga Football Club has a great opportunity in the match against RCD Espanyol to cut the current run of bad results, and continue to make the La Rosaleda a difficult ground for opponents and keep fighting for European places.
