A sunny Sunday afternoon in Vigo, with a notable crowd in the stands at Abanca-Balaídos. On the pitch, Juanfran Funes made two changes to the starting-11 that faced Levante UD last time out, with Izan Merino and Joaquín coming in for Dotor, who was unavailable due to fitness concerns, and Juan Cruz.
The opening stages saw Málaga dominate possession and control of the ball, with Dani Lorenzo pulling the strings. The Galicians did not pose a real threat until the 24th minute, when Carreira had a clear sight of goal, only for Alfonso Herrero to make an excellent save.
After the hydration break on the half-hour mark, Celta had another good chance when Hugo González fired a shot in the 39th minute. Just two minutes later, Jutglà put the hosts ahead (1-0, 41’). Celta went into half-time with the lead.
After the restart, Ramón came on to fill the holding midfield role in place of Einar, with Izan moving into central defence alongside Recio. The Fuengirola-born centre-back, pushing forward into attack, went in search of an equaliser with a long-range effort in the 53rd minute.
As in the first half, Málaga enjoyed more possession, but failed to test Radu in the Celta goal. Cruz replaced Joaquín in Funes’ second change of the game in minute 61. Shortly afterwards, two more substitutions were made in the 67th minute, with Niño, making his debut this season, and Puga coming on for Dani Lorenzo and Izan Merino.
In the closing stages, Larrubia tried his luck with a left-footed effort just wide of the home goal in the 81st minute. Two minutes later, from the opposite flank, Martínez forced a superb save from Radu in the 83rd minute. Moments later, the ‘18’ delivered the resulting corner, and Niño powered a superb header into the net to level the score (1-1, 83’).
In minute 87, Juan Berrocal made his Málaga debut, replacing Salinas. After five minutes of added time, the 1-1 draw saw Málaga CF pick up their first away point of the season and their third point of the 2026/27 campaign after five LALIGA EA SPORTS matches.
