Málaga Club Focus - Pellegrini wants another win at Granada
Malaga boss Manuel Pellegrini will be looking to his team to build on their win over Sevilla last weekend and maintain the club’s challenge for a European place, as they prepare for a second Andalusian derby in the space of eight days against Granada tonight.
Los Blanquiazules overcame Primera new boys Granada 4-0 at La Rosaleda back in September, with a brace each from Joaquin Sanchez and Santi Cazorla. Last Sunday’s win against Sevilla, courtesy of goals from Weligton and Seba Fernandez, was Malaga’s first for two months, arresting their slide into the congested mid-table pack.
Granada, meanwhile, have struggled on their return to the top flight after an absence of 35 years and, despite an impressive 2-1 win at Real Betis last weekend in new Coach Abel Resino’s first match in charge, are in the relegation zone going into tonight’s game at Los Carmenes. Resino, who replaced the sacked Fabri Gonzalez, has told his players to ‘be brave, respect everyone but fear no one’ in the clash with Malaga.
Pellegrini is without the injured Ruud van Nistelrooy for tonight’s match as the veteran Dutch striker joins longer-term absentees Joaquin and Julio Baptista. Defender Sergio Sanchez, who picked up his fifth yellow card against Sevilla, and striker Isco, who in the same game became the fifth Malaga player to be shown the red card this season, are both suspended.
Jesus Gamez is likely to be a straight replacement for Sergio Sanchez, but the Coach has a number of attacking options for plugging the gap caused by Isco’s absence. Young striker Juanmi has been added to the squad to travel to Granada and could replace Isco in attack. Alternatively, the Coach might opt for Recio as an attacking midfielder, playing just behind Seba and Salomon Rondon.
Granada have one of the best home defensive records, conceding only eight times at Los Carmenes, but have struggled to find the net, with their 14 goals in 20 outings the poorest return in La Liga. Malaga have bagged only eight goals on the road, but will look to consolidate last weekend’s success with another three points, and to show that the result against Sevilla was the beginning of a genuine recovery and not just a flash in the pan.
“The team is in good shape having won against Sevilla,” Pellegrini told a Press conference yesterday. “It was an important win due to the quality of the opposition and after a number of games without picking up points. It’s been a great week as we also did it at home in front of our fans.”
“We don’t know what kind of Granada we’re going to find,” added the Chilean. “They had a great first game with Abel, against Betis. At home they’ve won some important games too. It’s not easy to assimilate to a new manager’s ideas in two weeks, but the important thing is that Malaga maintain their level of play and that we go out looking to do that.”
Of the teams close to Malaga in the table, Atletico Madrid have been resurgent under new Coach Diego Simeone, while Espanyol and Athletic Bilbao are pressing Levante as strong contenders for Champions League qualification. Getafe have shrugged off their poor early season form and have achieved similar results to that of the Costa del Sol side, but on a fraction of the budget.
Conversely, Osasuna have suffered a dip in form and Sevilla have been inconsistent, but with only six points separating Malaga in eighth place and Granada in 18th ahead of tonight’s encounter, Pellegrini’s men cannot afford the second half of the season to be as disappointing as the first, or to rely on others. It is a point not lost on the Malaga Coach.
“Extra motivation cannot be sought from the results of other teams, it must be from our own results,” Pellegrini said. “Of course, if those who are higher up lose points we can close the gap and be in the European places, where we have been almost throughout the season. What matters is that the team can play how we want them to.”
“It’ll be a difficult match (against Granada) and we hope to go out with the same focus and aggression that we had last Sunday,” Malaga native Recio told the media. “We’re under a bit of pressure in the sense that we’ve come from a bad patch of not winning, but now we need to get a few straight wins and that would give us a big boost. With the Sevilla match we brought joy to the fans and now if we do things properly we can do it again.”
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