Málaga CF hosted CD Castellón on Primera Federación matchday 20 this Sunday afternoon, 21st January. 22,947 fans gathered at La Rosaleda Stadium to watch the match.
Sergio Pellicer’s starting-11 was made up of: Herrero; Jokin, Moussa, Einar, Juande and Dani Sánchez; Sangalli, Dani Lorenzo and Manu Molina; Dioni and Roberto.
Both teams got off to an energetic start and the opportunities soon followed. The first was for the visiting team, who found Alfonso Herrero's goal, but the striker's offside position meant the goal was disallowed.
The Blue and Whites responded with various attacks on the wings ending in crosses that Roberto connected with, but without finding a goal. In the 17th minute a good collective play by Sergio Pellicer's team led to a Jokin cross to the front of the area, Dani Lorenzo tried his luck but wasn’t able to surpass Gonzalo Crettaz.
The team remained upfront and forced a loss that led to a great through ball. Roberto gained possession and launched a low shot, yet the goalkeeper managed to deflect it into a corner to maintain the 0-0 score at half-time.
The team made an intense start to the second half and the first chance was not long in coming. In the 47th minute an attempt from Roberto sailed close to the opponent's goal.
Shortly afterwards, in minute 50, Einar had the chance to open the scoring with a cross from the corner headed in by the defender which came very close to finding the Castellón goal.
The visitors' goal arrived in the 54th minute. A Castellón corner was saved by Alfonso. A subsequent cross from the opposite side led Manu Sánchez to put his team 0-1 in the lead.
Málaga's reaction came in the form of chances from lateral crosses. The team took possession of the ball and tried from the wings and inside without managing to outwit the rival keeper.
Although the team maintained momentum and moved closer to the rival goal, the match ended in a 0-1 defeat. Next Saturday, we’re away to Recreativo Granada at Los Cármenes (16:00).