Málaga back to winning ways with defeat of Sevilla
Three goals inside the first 20 minutes settled a pulsating Andalusian ‘derbi’ between Málaga and Sevilla at La Rosaleda as Manuel Pellegrini’s men got back to winning ways with a 2-1 victory.
The hosts could have taken the lead within the first five minutes in a lively opening to the match, Salomón Rondón drawing a save from Javi Varas and Santi Cazorla seeing an effort turned over the bar. However, central defender Weligton did put the Costa del Sol side ahead on seven minutes when he was left completely unmarked to head home Cazorla’s right-wing free-kick.
Málaga’s lead lasted just eight minutes, an outrageous dummy from Álvaro Negredo allowing Antonio Luna to nip in on the blind side of a static Málaga defence to beat Willy Caballero at the second time of asking, the Málaga goalkeeper half-saving his initial attempt. The home side restored their advantage four minutes later with an even more untidy goal, Rondón springing the offside trap to set up Seba Fernández who stumbled over the ball before eventually seeing his shot trickle over the line.
Los Blanquiazules went into the break deservedly in front and started brightly in the second half with Varas saving from Isco, but the visitors began to come more into the game and both Negredo and Julien Escude went close. The home side were then reduced to 10 men on 78 minutes when youngster Isco was dismissed for a second yellow card after a two-footed lunge on Negredo, and they were nearly made to pay for it. A right-wing cross from Jesús Navas found Coke in the six-yard box but the defender had his header ruled out for offside despite the protestations of the Sevilla players.
Diawara then saw his header sail over the bar and substitute Manu del Moral shot wide but Málaga hung on for their first win in seven games to ease the pressure on boss Pellegrini, although the same cannot be said for opposite number Marcelino who saw his team slip to below half-way in the table.
“I hope this is the start of a good run of results that allows us to fight for the top places,” said Pellegrini afterwards. “Sevilla are a great team with some skilful players but I felt we deserved to win and these are three very important points. Maybe it has seemed the team are not a cohesive unit but we will continue to do what we have been doing and try to improve,” he added.
Marcelino was disappointed with his side’s display and blamed a shaky defence alongside an inability to retain possession and a lack of intensity for the defeat.
“Málaga began the game with more intensity and we didn’t help ourselves by constantly giving the ball away,” he lamented. “After the second goal went in the game was equal but we created less chances than we have been doing and did not dominate the play as we would have liked. Playing as we did tonight we cannot win football matches and we need to get back to the level we were at in previous games.”
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