Rubén Castro and Chavarría secure a crucial win (2-0)
Victory for Málaga CF against CD Leganés, at La Rosaleda, on matchday 33 of LaLiga SmartBank. Rubén Castro and Pablo Chavarría, in the second half, scored the Malaguista goals in a vital win.
There was a good crowd at Martiricos on this Monday night on which, in the run-up to kick off, the stands observed a respectful minute’s silence following the death of the father of José María Muñoz, the Club's judicial administrator.
On the pitch, Pellicer maintained his system with three central defenders and two fullbacks, making two changes in relation to the previous game against Levante. Escassi came on for the suspended Juande in defence, whilst Rubén Castro replaced Fran Sol upfront.
The first opportunity during play was for Leganés on the counterattack. Cristian avoided an Arnáiz goal in 14'. The attempt by the highly active Pepinero number ‘10’ went wide in 22'. Shortly before, Febas narrowly missed putting MCF in the lead (17'). Along with Fran Villalba, he carried the weight of the Blue and White attack and came close to scoring in 29'.
Villalba, in 38', was shown the yellow card that indicates suspension, meaning he’ll miss out on Sunday’s game in Andorra. At half-time, the scoreboard remained 0-0.
In the second half, booked Escassi and Fran Villalba were replaced by Luis Muñoz and Chavarría. The formation altered to a more conventional 1-4-4-2 with Lago Junior on the right profile and Rubén Castro up top with 'Chava'. The Argentinean striker, in 52', could have put Málaga ahead with a left footer that was deflected by Riesgo.
Equality prevailed after the first quarter of an hour of the second half. Until Rubén Castro appeared. The legendary 'killer' put the Blue and Whites ahead with a goal from a born number '9' (1-0, 66'). The eighth of the season for the Malaguista top scorer and number 193 of his career in the Second Division, just one behind the all-time leader in the silver category (Nino, 194).
The goal spurred on the team and the passionate crowd, aware of the importance of the partial advantage against the Madrid outfit at a key moment in the match. In 74', Ramón made way for Genaro. In the final stretch, Jozabed came on for goal scorer Rubén Castro in minute 85' to reinforce the wide area.
Leganés pressed on in the final minutes and Nyom, in 88', looked for the equaliser with a shot that was deflected near the crossbar. In the 90th minute, Pellicer made his final change, bringing on Fran Sol for Febas. After eight minutes of extra time, right in the eighth minute, Chavarría scored a goal after a rival corner kick in which goalkeeper, Riesgo, went up on the attack, leaving his goal unprotected. Pablo, with a long run, was right on target (2-0, 98').
At the final whistle the fans roared throughout a delighted La Rosaleda. Victory on matchday 33 leaves Málaga CF with 30 points in 20th place, narrowing the gap to safety to within eight points. Vamos, Málaga!
