Malaga straight back to square one

2017-02-27 08:00:00

A brace from Adrián González and a volley from Sergi Enrich ensured ten-man Malaga suffered a demoralising 3-0 defeat against Eibar at the Ipurua Municipal Stadium on Saturday night.

Adrián put the hosts in firm control with two goals either side of half time, before Enrich added the third.

Marcelo Romero’s misery was then compounded by the sending off of right-back Roberto Rosales for a second bookable offence with twenty minutes remaining.

 
It was an extremely lethargic start to the game from both sides and for most parts of the first half Malaga seemed to struggle to get out of their own half in the absence of captain Ignacio Camacho, with Pablo Fornals and Michael Santos largely anonymous. The Blue and Whites’ only shot of the half came when a ball over the top by Diego Llorente found the Uruguayan, who fired into the side netting from a tight angle.

At the other end, Pedro León had plenty of joy on the Eibar right-hand side, and the former Real Madrid and Getafe winger would help Eibar take the lead in the last meaningful action of the first period. He played a one-two with Ander Capa, who consequently played a clever through-ball to a marginally offside Sergi Enrich, who squared for Adrián to tap home.

Eibar then effectively killed the game off in the first ten minutes of the second half. Adrián sent Carlos Kameni the wrong way from the penalty spot after Juankar had brought down Pedro León, before Enrich fizzed a volley past the Cameroonian for his 10th goal of the season.

Malaga attempted to respond, but substitutes Charles and Javi Ontiveros failed to really test goalkeeper Yoel Rodríguez. Five minutes after Takashi Inui’s seemingly harmless long-range effort was tipped onto the post by Kameni, Rosales saw red after his challenge on Adrián earned him a second yellow card. Eibar were content with their lead and professionally saw out the last twenty minutes, even though Yoel was forced to deny Santos right at the death from Fornals’ clipped pass.source svm