Match Reports

February 29, 2004 @ 17:00h - yes it's another Sunday night match at La Roseleda. The temperature is 18C, it's sunny and in our seats we catch the sun and need both caps and sunglasses to watch the action. The pitch is immaculate, flat like a billiard table and the ground is again at capacity for the visit of Racing. They have made the long trip from the north coast - Santander is the ferry port where you arrive from Portsmouth with Brittany Ferries. They arrive in Malaga sharing 11th place on 32 points from 25 games, so a close game was always in prospect. Like Malaga, Racing have no superstars in their line-up but they are known as a hard working side, play a strict 4-4-2 set up and will be no pushovers.
Ruande again makes some changes to his line-up, enforced by suspensions and injuries. The team that lined up was (4-4-1-1) Arnau, Josemi, Litos, Juanito, Valcarce, Gerardo, Leko, Miguel Angel, Duda, Edgar and Salva. So Litos returns in place of suspended captain Fernando Sanz, Croatian Leko keeps his place in midfield with continuing absence of Romero and my favourite winger, Gerardo, makes a rare start wide on the right. So with Duda wide on the left, the Malaga set up was along the usual lines. There was no place for Luque or Diego Alonso, despite their heroics in the last few games against Celta Vigo and Real Madrid.
Malaga win the toss and elect to kick towards the goal in front of us, as the sun shines directly into the faces of the opposing defenders and goalkeeper. However, as the minutes pass by, it's clear that Racing are devoid of any other tactic than a packed defence then route one long ball attack. There are a lot of petty fouls and the game is constantly being held up by the referee for more and more free kicks. In fact 30 minutes go by and neither goalkeeper has had to make a save.
The game is bogged down in a packed midfield and neither team has much clue about how to make a difference. For Malaga, Salva, who started the season akin to a carthorse on acid, was showing a good appetite and his first touch was good but he had no support to lay off to when winning the ball time and time again in his battles with the two Racing centrebacks.
Then after 38 minutes, suddenly, out of nowhere, Leko picks up a loose ball in the centre circle and releases Gerardo on the right. He races to the byline and sends in a low cross to the advancing SALVA, who coolly brought the ball under control, took it away from the centre back and slotted it home for his 15th goal of the season.
Halftime Malaga 1 Racing 0
Malaga started the second period brightly but the fussy referee soon ensured that the pattern of the first half soon became established in the second too. Arnau still had to make a save of any consequence and we had to wait until the 57th minute before Malaga had a shot on target. Leko fired in a ferocious shot from the edge of a crowded penalty area. The shot took a massive deflection but the keeper did well to get across his box to make a diving save.
In 68 minutes, Duda was substituted for Luque. Luque has pace, is keen to shoot on sight, but is a very left footed left winger. True enough in 75 minutes, from the left wing, Luque's right foot shot again required a diving save from the Racing keeper, as Malaga tried to make the game safe.
This seemed to waken up Racing that perhaps Malaga weren't going to score another and that they were still in this game. So they changed their tactics, went three at the back and put five up front.
The tactic however allowed Malaga to have more scoring attempts on the break and first Edgar went close with a flying header and then Luque has a strong shot which went straight to the keeper. With three minutes remaining Salva was taken off to rapturous applause and Diego Alonso came on. Then Edgar was replaced by Canabal, as Ruande's response to Racing's tactics was to put on fresh strikers. It almost paid off as after typical harrying and closing down won the ball for Diego Alonso, the Argentine passed to Gerardo who was standing unmarked just outside the box. Noticing that the Racing keeper was on his six yard line, he tried a spectacular lob which cannoned back off the crossbar and fell to Luque's......right foot... and he tamely shot straight into the keeper's arms.
Final Score 1-0.
Still, that's now three wins in a row for Malaga, after their dreadful start to the year. They remain in their midtable position, but if results go their way over the coming weeks, they could soon be challenging for a European spot in the top six at the end of the season. Next week they travel to Zaragoza, who are struggling this season, languishing just above the three relegation spots. Another tough game in prospect then, but also another opportunity for "Our Boys" to advance further up the table.