The Blue and Whites headed to Miranda del Ebro in Natxo González’s debut as Malaguista coach. The Municipal de Anduva stadium hosted the LaLiga SmartBank matchday 25 fixture. The new coach’s first starting line-up consisted of: Dani Barrio; Víctor G., Escassi, Juande, Javi Jiménez; Jairo, Febas, Ramón, Kevin; Brandon and Jozabed.
The home side made the most of their energetic start to take the lead in minute 3 following a combination on the edge of the area. It was R. Brugué who surpassed Dani Barrio to put his team 1-0 in front.
Trailing on the scoreboard, the Blue and Whites attempted to turn the situation around through possession and interchanging player positions in front of the ball. However, the locals had a chance via Imanol in minute 14 following a counterattack to again disturb the Blue and White area. Dani Barrio came out quickly to deflect the ball to a corner kick in a commendable intervention.
Jozabed and Jairo were both highly active on the right. Overtaking opponents, crossing and seeking out the rival area and, consequently, forcing yellow cards, such as that of Rey, who was substituted in 33’ by Iago López.
After several minutes of shared possession, in 39’ Camello took advantage of another transition to increase the home side’s lead to 2-0 before the half-time whistle.
In the second half, the lads went out in search of a goal to narrow the gap on the scoreboard, but without success. In 47’, Jairo put Raúl Lizoain to the test, but shortly afterwards, in 49’, Hassan increased the locals’ advantage to 3-0 with a shot from outside the area.
Natxo sought solutions, bringing on Antoñín and Roberto in place of Jairo and Kevin (62‘) and Hicham for Brandon (77’). Despite the attempts from the Malaguista ‘15’, the result didn’t alter. The incorporation of M. Peybernes and S. Gassama in place of Juande and Febas (85’) also didn’t change the final score (3-0).
Málaga CF leave empty handed from Miranda del Ebro in the first of two consecutive away games. On 5th February the team will visit Real Zaragoza at La Romareda on LaLiga SmartBank matchday 26.