Match Reports

As has become the custom for cup games, the first team regulars are rested and a chance given to the squad members who don't feature in the starting eleven and also an opportunity given to some of the players from the Malaga B team. So the team which faced Tenerife was very different from the normal Malaga line-up. Malaga B centre back Lobato is given a chance at right back and Portuguese misfit is moved from his habitual right wing berth to support Ivan Rosado up front.

Malaga (4-4-2): Arnau; Lobato, Silva, Jesule and Valcarce; Cheli, Apoño, Sandro, and Eliseu; Paulo Jorge and Iván Rosado.

Just under 9000 spectators were in the Heliodoro Rodríguez López stadium for the 22:00h kick off in an agreeable temperature of 20C.

Malaga unsurprisingly took time to settle with so many players playing together for the first time. They played high up the field which meant the midfield area became very crowded and unsurprisingly, Tenerife took the lead after 23 minuntes, although through a fortuitous route. First Iriome benefitted from a clearance from Jesule which struck the body of his captain, Valcarce. SILVA went to clear but the ball came off the heel of his boot and went past Arnau for a comical own goal. Tenerife 1 Malaga 0 The goal seemed to wake Malaga up from their lethargic start and they began to have more of the ball. Tenerife were pressed back into defence and Silva almost scored at the Tenerife end when his header off a cross from the left came off the right hand post. Half-time Tenerife 1 Malaga 0 At the interval, Muñiz took the opportunity to recontruct the team. Malaga B centre back Lobato was substituted by Malaga B winger Gerardo, who had shone in the preseason matches. Winger Paulo Jorge, who had been playing behind Ivan Rosado as a second striker, moved to the right back position and Geraldo replaced him up front.
This change seemed to reactivate Malaga in attack, because Gerardo knew how to take advantage of the extraordinary work rate of Iván Rosado. At the same time, Apoño and Sandro entered game and started to impose themselves on midfield. Thus they were able to bring the wingers, Eliseu and Cheli, more into the game. A goal to tie the game was now just a matter of time. And it came in 61' after an excellent combination of passes following a run down the left wing by Eliseu, who passed to Sandro. The movement and intelligence of Rosado and Geraldo created space for ELISEU to take the final pass to score. Tenerife 1 Malaga 1 From that moment the Tenerife did not exist. Not even the successive changes of Oltra to give an offensive breath to the Canary Island side had any repercussion in the game. Definitively the Malaga had everything in its favour. They were superior to their opponents in all the zones of the field and played with tempo. Tenerife, affected psychologically, could not resist the gale. Malaga B right back Javi Ramos came on for Cheli in 72' and Malaga restructured again. Gerardo moved to the right wing and Paulo Jorge moved back upfield. But after a superb cross from the right wing by Gerardo eluded the Tenerife goalkeeper in 76' it was the substitute JAVI RAMOS who got onto the end of the cross to put the tie beyond the home side from five yards at the far post.

Full time: Tenerife 1 Malaga 2

Another victory for Malaga, which means nine played and nine won - a remarkable record. In the fourth round of the Copa, we see the First Division teams enter, so Malaga will be hoping for a glory tie against one of the big guns just to see how close to being ready to competing in La Liga they are.

On Sunday, it's back to league business when Malaga must travel to Elche in another live televised match. Your Malaga CF Correspondent will be watching!