It was a peaceful Sunday afternoon in which, before kick-off, a minutes’ silence was held in memory of the late former CD Málaga basketball coach and one of the fathers of basketball in Málaga, José María Martín Urbano.
On the pitch, Pepe Mel introduced several changes in relation to the last match against Oviedo. The 1-4-2-3-1 formation remained in defence with Ramón on the double pivot with N’Diaye, Hervías and Gallar opening up the wings and Fran Villalba as playmaker behind Rubén Castro.
Málaga got off to a good start, dominating possession and approaching the rival area. In 15’, a Juanfran cross reached N'Diaye who missed the target in an acrobatic position. Eibar, in their first arrival, were unforgiving. Quique made the most of an error in defence to put the visitors in the lead (0-1, 21’). Stoichkov, in minute 26 could have increased the lead with a shot from a difficult angle.
Hervías tried his luck in the 29th minute but his shot landed in the hands of Luca Zidane. N'Diaye, in minute 32, tested the reflexes of the rival goalkeeper with a dangerous shot from distance. Five minutes later, an accurate pass by Ramón culminated in a shot by Castro near the left post, then Rubén, in minute 44, had another chance cleared by the rival defence. The scoreboard still showed 0-1 after 45 minutes.
In the second half, Mel brought on Cristian for Gallar on the left of the attack. Once again, N’Diaye from outside the area launched the first attempt of the second half in 50’. Rival goal-scorer Quique almost scored a brace, but he skied his shot in 57’. In that minute, the second Blue and White substitution saw Fran Sol replace Hervías. The number ‘9’ came close to an equaliser with a header in 61’.
Febas came on for Villalba in 65’. A solid Eibar in defence stepped up the counterattack with ex-Malaguista Blanco Leschuk as a benchmark. Mel made his final changes in minute 74, replacing N'Diaye and Ramón with Jozabed and Issa Fomba, who was making his first team debut at La Rosaleda. Two minutes later, a shot from the number '19' sailed very close to the right post.
Málaga sought an equaliser until the end without success. The 0-1 defeat leaves the lads with nine points in LaLiga SmartBank after 13 games.
