Match Reports

No, I did not go through to Sevilla to watch the last game of the season, but I did watch the highlights on TV last night so I can tell you briefly what happened. (Briefly? I hear you say!)
A small aside - at least I was able to watch the highlights on television, which is more than I could do for the Scottish Cup Final on Saturday, as Scottish football has got its Football-on-TV knickers in a twist and can show neither the live game nor its highlights on satellite TV. I had to put up with Alistair Alexander and the obnoxious Chick Young on Radio Scotland to listen to the game. How much longer must we endure this pompous little man, who "I can exclusively reveal" is the most-hated of any of the TV pundits ever.
Malaga, with two glorious wins on the trot and finishing the season strongly and in a comfortable midtable slot, had nothing to lose but pride against local rivals Sevilla. Sevilla, on the other hand, had everything to play for. Lying in fourth position, all they had to do to ensure they retained that coveted Champions League slot was draw or preferably win against their less accomplished rivals. Just to put more of an edge on it - they also very much wanted to put one over their fiercest city rivals, Real Betis, who were in with a chance of taking the Champions League spot from Sevilla if the results went their way.
Malaga played their normal line-up: (4-2-3-1): Arnau; Gerardo, Cesar, Fernando Sanz and Valcarce; Romero and Juanito; Michel, Miguel Angel and Duda; Baiano. Michel in for Juan Rodriguiez, recovering from an injury sustained against Barcelona.
From the TV highlights, Sevilla threw everything at Malaga during the first half and the visitors were reduced to desperate defending, including last ditch tackles, hoofing the ball into touch and relying on Arnau's elbows, knees, outstretched feet, diving saves and bravery - throwing his body all over the place and smothering the ball with onrushing strikers with the calibre of Oliviera, Antonito and Baptisto to contend with. Some of the shots were wide as well and you could feel the crowd wishing the ball into the net and loudly groaning at every save or miss.
Malaga did not appear as an attacking force until the second half and it was Duda who was brought down 30 yards out when clear of most of the Sevilla team, who were camped in Malaga's half. Now, as you all must know by now, Duda takes all Malaga's free kicks and invariably there is little threat from them. He must have at least three good scoring chances per game from set pieces and all too rarely does anything come from them. So here we were, in the 38th and final game of the season, getting a pasting from our Andalucian rivals and the bold DUDA steps up to take the free kick he has just won for himself. He goes for goal and strikes a shot which swerves around the wall, hits the upper third of the post and goes in, past the flapping arms of the goalkeeper, who, to be fair, may well have got the ball, had it not gone in off the post.
Sevilla 0 Malaga 1
Sevilla try and try to get back into the game and Arnau's body bits have to work overtime to keep the ball out. Miguel Angel and Duda are substituted by Juan Rodrigriuez and Iznate respectively and it is the latter who skips past three players down the left wing in the 93rd minute to send in a perfect square pass into the box, right across the penalty mark. The Sevilla defence is at full pelt running back and both Michel and BAIANO are trying to run onto the pass. It is too quick for the former, but the Brazilian's timing is perfect and he smashes the ball past the keeper to complete Sevilla's misery.
Full time: Sevilla 0 Malaga 2

Malaga finish a very credible 10th in the league, above, for example, Atletico Madrid and Deportivo La Coruna.
Betis are away to Mallorca. Mallorca must get at least a point to ensure a dramatic escape from relegation, as they have occupied one of the bottom three relegation slots for most of the season. Result Mallorca 1 Betis 1 which means that Betis leap over Sevilla in fourth to join Barcelona, Real Madrid and Villarreal in the Champions League next season. Sevilla and Espanyol will contest the UEFA Cup. The joy on the Betis players faces was palpable and the rejoicing in Sevilla's streets late into the night was in all the TV news reports this morning. You can imagine the despondency of the Sevilla players - something akin to Celtic's loss last week to Motherwell, except Sevilla expect to retain most of the players and their manager for next season and have something to build on rather than starting all over again.
Levante and Numancia drop down after only one season up. They are joined by Albacete, whose losing streak continued and they drop after only two seasons in the top league.
Malaga? Could they have been challenging for European spots if Tapia had been appointed in August instead of Manzano - we will never know. And what about Brazilian sensation Baiano - who scored 10 goals in 15 games since joining at the end of January? Well he was on loan from a Brazilian side until the end of the season with an option to buy for 3 million euros (a bargain). However, there seems to be a complication with a Uruguayan side actually holding his FIFA registration, so we will just have to wait and see what happens.
Whatever - when the new season starts next September - your Malaga CF Correspondent will be there.