Match Reports

Great anticipation for Sunday night's match, which some of may have seen "live" either on Sky Sports 1 or Canal+ here in Spain. Malaga were semi-euphoric after their previous weekend's 1-4 away win at Mallorca, whereas Atletico Madrid had not won in La Liga since February and this early in the season were languishing in one of the three drop zone places in the table.
In the close season, striker Salva left them to join Malaga and was replaced by the Serbian, Kezman, signed from Chelsea after a bust up with Jose Mourino. Also signed in the close season was the Bulgarian, Petrov, who is known in his home country as the "new Stoitchkov". But the biggest change for Atletico Madrid for the new season is their new manager, Carlos Bianchi. The Argentinean has come to Spain with an impressive track record from his home country - 3 Intercontinental Cups, 4 Liberty Cups and 7 Argentinean League titles, among others.
So it is an understatement to say that Atletico were underperforming with the talent on hand, already boasting Argentinean goalkeeper, Leo Franco, Maxi Rodriguez, Frenchman Pierre Luccin, Perea and the sensational Spanish international striker, Fernando Torres and a win was a "must have" for them against Malaga.
Atletico Madrid (4-1-3-2): Leo Franco; Velasco, Pablo, Perea and Antonio Lopez; Luccin; Maxi, Gabi and Petrov; Kezman and Fernando Torres.
Antonio Tapia, on the other hand, has had difficulty in naming a settled line-up this year, either through lack of form in some players, injuries, suspensions and ongoing contract debates. Last week Tapia played 4-4-2 in the win against Mallorca, not out of choice but because he was limited by the players available. Only Arnau, Fernando Sanz, Cesar, Nacho and Gerardo have featured in all previous five starting line-ups so far. This week he was still unable to call up Romero, who is very badly missed in front of the back four, and big Uruguayan striker Morales picked up a injury in training. Biggest omission this week, though, was Duda. The little Portuguese left winger and playmaker, who scored twice last week, was left out again from the squad as he continues to refuse to accept Malaga's contract offers or a transfer to another club before his existing contract expires in June 2006. So the concept, "don't change a winning team", was not available and a strange looking line-up was announced to the crowd (which was sold out four days before the kick-off, despite being live on TV):
Malaga (4-2-3-1): Arnau; Alexis, Cesar, Fernando Sanz and Valcarce; Gerardo and Anderson; Edgar, Juan Rodriguez and Nacho; Salva.

Although it's a 21:00h kick-off in October, the temperature was 21C and there was no appreciable wind. Malaga lost the toss and were asked to kick off towards the Fondo end (where we sit). In the opening two minutes, Gerardo picked up the ball in the centre circle and seeing that Leo Franco was on the edge of his penalty box, tried an audacious lob from 40 yards. But the ball didn't come down enough and went sailing over.
In the opening 10 minutes the pattern of play started to become obvious. Malaga were pressing forward, as you might expect the home team to do, whereas Atletico were looking to the pace of their powerful front two, Kezman and Torres, to catch out Malaga with the Route One over the top counter attack.
In 10' Fernando Torres did latch on to one such through ball and went direct towards the Malaga goal. This is a fearsome sight for the opposing fans as his touch is so good and his pace breathtaking. However on this occasion, Cesar stuck out a foot to cleanly take the ball whilst Fernando Torres ran on without the ball. This received a great cheer from the home crowd, both out of relief but also in a effort to wind up the young superstar, who was sent-off in the corresponding match last season.
Malaga did have a couple of freekicks in promising positions after their neat passing play was interrupted by uncompromising tackles from the Atletico back four, but the resulting attempts on goal were poor.
Then Salva, Juan Rodriguez and Edgar were all given marginal offside decisions within seconds of each other when in good scoring positions.
In 17' we caught the first glimpse of the pace and power of Kezman as he latched onto a seemingly safe passback from Fernando Sanz to his keeper. Kezman appeared out of nowhere to intercept the pass and race one-on-one with Arnau, but the Malaga keeper is in fine form just now and rushed out to avert the danger.
The following minute, Alexis attempted a long throw deep into the Atletico half. Fernando Torres intercepted the pass and set off on a long run into Malaga's half. Instead of electing to shoot he tried to find Kezman who had raced into the box with him, but Anderson's long legs got in the way of the pass and he was able to make the clearance.
In the 26th minute, Nacho, who was failing to make an impression down the left wing, at last managed to get past the full back to send a powerful drive towards the penalty spot to an onrushing Juan Rodriguez. The burly forward was brought down in a challenge by Pablo, but the referee did not award the penalty.
Luccin was first to be booked after 34' for showing his studs in a high tackle against Juan Rodriguez, who was continuing to trouble the Atletico defence.
The standside linesman continued to annoy and frustrate the Malaga frontmen as again and again marginal offside decisions spoilt some good leading up play. Perhaps the Malaga midfielders could have been guilty of not releasing the ball quickly enough to the forwards, but there were so many offsides in this period that it was becoming a joke.
In 39' Gerardo, given the freekick duties in Duda's absence, at last had some success with a dead ball and found the lanky Brazilian Anderson in space in the box but his free header went just over.
It was all Malaga at this point and Petrov was next to be booked in 41' for dissent, after having a so far frustrating match out on Atletico's left wing.
Then in 43', Atletico's third booking came when centre back Pablo brought down Juan Rodriguez from the back.
The resultant free kick bounced off the wall and was gathered quickly by Leo Franco who launched it straight down the middle for Fernando Torres to chase. The speedy striker raced into the box, again one-on-one with Arnau, but the goalkeeper brought off an excellent save to deny the Atletico a lead they scarcely deserved.
Half time Malaga 0 Atletico 0
Just after kick off and Gerardo becomes the first Malaga player to be booked for pushing Fernando Torres off the ball.
In 50' Malaga made their first substitution, by replacing Alexis with Hidlago. Gerardo dropped back to his more accustomed right back position, with Hidalgo slotting in midfield alongside Anderson, with Juan Rodriguez pushing up to join Salva in a more attacking 4-4-2 formation, as Malaga set out their stall to win the game.
The game's pace has picked up considerably since these changes as Malaga go in search of an opening goal.
In 57' Nacho is brought down in full flight down the left and is booked for complaining that he didn't get a free kick.
In 58' Salva goes close but heads just over from a clever Nacho cross.
The first attack of the half from Atletico produces a great save from Arnau as he somehow gets to the ball from a powerful header from Gabi from a Lopez freekick.
Atletico enjoy their best spell of the game with Arnau having to produce another fine save in 60', this time from Kezman after he had beaten Fernando Sanz all ends up for pace.
In 62' Arnau makes another save from Luccin's pot shot from deep midfield.
In 64' Petrov finally gets past Gerardo and manages to swing a ball into box, looking for the onrushing Fernando Torres. Cesar has it covered and moves in between the ball and player to intercept the cross, but the young striker goes down and the referee awards the penalty!
Now live at the game, it did not look like a penalty to me and most of the capacity crowd and all eleven Malaga players agreed with me. They gathered round the referee to protest and Anderson was booked for dissent. On the highlights later on TV, all fifteen camera angles and constant replays showed that Fernando Torres ran into the back of the towering centre back, who was looking towards the ball and Petrov and, crucially, that it was no penalty. It also showed the young striker smirking widely at his good fortune in hoodwinking the referee. The crowd behind the goal saw this too and went wild raising the decibel level in the stadium quite a few notches (bearing in mind it is a logarithmic scale). There was some shenanigans before Fernando Torres could take the kick as the referee held up the penalty kick until the Malaga players were out of the "D". But it was all to no avail as the big striker stroked the ball past Arnau to put the Red and Whites ahead.
Fernando Torres ran behind the goal to celebrate with his tongue out and his hands behind his ears deliberately taunting the home support and the shot was captured beautifully in a photograph published yesterday in a national newspaper here in Spain. No booking was forthcoming from the referee for this offence, so the crowd took the matter into their own hands and showered the player with plastic coke bottles as he ran towards the corner flag chased by his fellow players. There was a short delay as the missiles were removed from the pitch and announced boomed out over the pa system and on the giant scoreboards that the club is fined for such demonstrations.
Malaga 0 Atletico 1
Directly after the goal, Nacho was replaced by Paco Estaban to take over the wide left slot and three minutes later, Manu was brought on to replace the largely invisible Edgar out wide on the right.
Paco Estaban's first involvement was to be fouled by Velasco as he attempted to collect a pass from Hidalgo, which resulted in a booking for the Atletico right back.
Malaga are pushing up now and adjusting to the changes, trying to get back into game they had largely controlled up to the penalty. However, the threat from Fernando Torres and Kezman had not gone away and it was the latter who raced onto another long ball out of defence, in 75 minutes, out wide on the right. He seemed to drift past three defenders without suffering a challenge before releasing a right foot shot which went across Arnau and into the top left corner of the net.
Malaga 0 Atletico 2
This was indeed the killer blow for the game and everybody seemed to sense it, even though there were still 15 minutes left. Kezman was substituted right after scoring and Petrov moved up front to partner Fernando Torres.
Malaga look shell shocked and devoid of ideas now as Atletico sense it is their day and go looking for more goals. It's Petrov who is showing now for Atletico in his new forward position and he too shows he is a pacy player as he runs on more long balls out of the Atletico defence and only a succession of fine saves from Arnau denies the Bulgarian the chance to have his name on the scoresheet.
Full time Malaga 0 Atletico 2

It is a full three weeks before Malaga return to La Rosaleda. Next weekend is free due the World Cup qualifiers. The following weekend, Malaga face the difficult trip to Valencia, then it's back home for the first of the season's local Andalucian derbies, this time against the strongest of them, Real Betis. Never fear, your Malaga CF Correspondent will be there.
Hasta luego!

Posted by malagacf_correspondent at 3:04 PM | Permalink

January 23rd 2005: 19:00h kick-off. It's been a terrific week of weather here in the Costa del Sol, really warm sunshine every day - the first local strawberries of the season at the market, in every way it's like spring after the coolness of December. Full moon, full house for the visit of star studded Atletico Madrid, including of course wunderkid Fernando Torres and last season's Malaga hero, Salva, in attack. New signing, Gronkjaer, from Birmingham City, has strengthened an already strong squad, which boasts an all-star midfield of Marcelo Sosa and Frenchman Peter Luccin. Atletico have slipped recently to 10th position (cf Malaga in 18th out of twenty) after an outstanding start and will be looking for a win to get themselves back in contention for a European placing.
New signings on Malaga's horizon: last week saw the transfer of Michel from Real Murcia and the transfer out of Luque to Cuidad de Murcia. The hot gossip though is about the signings of two renowned goalscoring strikers - the former Real Madrid starlet, Tote, from Real Betis, and the Brazilian, Baiano, from Wolfsburg. Hopefully these two players will be on show at the next home match on 06 February against Real Mallorca.
For his second game in charge, new Malaga boss Tapia is unable to field the same starting eleven as last week, because Duda is suspended due to reaching five yellow cards. However, Miguel Angel returns after suspension in an otherwise unchanged team, with Arnau retaining his position in goal. Malaga (4-5-1): Arnau, Gerardo, Cesar Nevas, Fernado Sanz, Valcarce, Edgar, Miguel Angel, Juan Rodriguez, Juanito and Leko, Amoroso.
Atletico Madrid (4-4-2): Leo Franco, Mollinero, Garcia Calvo, Perea, Antonio Lopez, Ibagaza, Sosa, Luccin, Gronkjaer, Fernando Torres and Salva.
Atletico Madrid are in their usual red and white stripes, with red shorts, whilst Malaga are in their home strip of blue and white stripes with blue shorts.
It's a Sunday night at 7pm, 15C, and the pitch is perfect condition. In a full house, there is a buzz around the stadium and Malaga win the toss electing to play towards the Fondo end (where we sit) in the first half.
The opening exchanges provide no threat on goal and we have to wait until the 4th minute when Leo Franco has to be smart to whip the ball off Amoroso's feet after good work by Edgar on the right wing.
Malaga prove to be more in control in these early moments and Valcarce's run down the left wing ends with a cross which forces a fine save from Leo Franco off Juan Rodriguez's header.
It's 10 minutes before Atletico manage to threaten goal. Gronkjaer makes a run down the left wing and sends in a cross which Arnau has to be alert to with Fernando Torres lurking.
The next minute, Malaga win a free kick 30 yards out on the right. Leko and Miguel Angel stand over the ball with all the big guys in the box waiting. Miguel Angel runs over the ball and Leko sends in a looping shot which Leo Franco is happy to see go just over.
In 14', it's another chance for Malaga from approximately the same position. Again, the training ground practice comes into force with Miguel Angel and Leko over the ball. This time Leko sends in an inviting cross to Amoroso's head which Leo Franco comes to first and punches the ball clear.
Penalty claims from Malaga after 16' when Leko is elbowed to the ground in the box when receiving a neat pass from Edgar, but the referee says play on.
In 18' the first booking of the game and it's Sosa, after bring down Juan Rodriguez in full flight.
The next minute it's another chance for Leko from a free kick outside the box, but Leo Franco makes an excellent save and tips it over. Miguel Angel takes the corner, but Fernando Sanz's header goes just past.
We have to wait until 22' before we see Fernando Torres have a shot on goal. He goes on a run, and with his quick feet gets past three defenders, but his shot is so high it almost makes the upper tier and has the occupants of Row Z scrambling for cover.
The second booking is in 30' when Gronkjaer is brought down by Gerardo.
Malaga have another chance in 33' when Gerardo's long throw finds Amoroso with his back to goal. The tricky Brazilian tries an overhead kick, but just fails to connect and the danger to the visitor's defence is cleared.
Perea brings down Juan Rodriguez near the left corner post and Leko's free is headed wide by giant centre back Cesar Nevas.
In 36' Fernando Torres wins another free kick about 30 yards out. Peter Luccin takes the kick after much toing and froing in the wall with three Atletico players trying to push their Malaga counterparts away from the line of the shot. However, Luccin's shot goes so wide it almost goes out for a throw.
In 40', another booking - this time it's Gronkjaer for off the ball comments to the referee.
Malaga are seeking the opening just before half time and when Perea handballs just outside the area, it's a chance for Juan Rodriguez, but his effort hits the wall and the danger has passed.

Half-time Malaga 0-0 Atletico Madrid

It's Atletico who start the brightest and from the kick-off, Gronkjaer takes the ball down the right to the touchline. With nobody in support, he tries a banana shot which just goes wide of the far post while Arnau can only watch and pray.
The next minute, Miguel Angel finds himself booked for a studs up challenge on Luccin on the centreline.
It's still Atletico pulling the strings and Antonio Lopez wins a corner after a run down the left wing. He takes the corner himself and Arnau has to make a good save from Fernando Torres's header.
After 50' Malaga form their first attack of the half. After some slick interpassing, Amoroso is brought down and Miguel Angel's effort is just wide.
In 60' Juan Rodriguez joins the names in the referee's book after a foul on Luccin.
A double substitution for Malaga after 61'. Amoroso comes off for Wanchope and Leko makes way for Michel, making his debut for his new club.
Atletico also make a change in 63' when Sosa is replaced by the towering Nano.
A fright for Malaga in the 64' when Fernando Torres finds the net with Arnau well beaten. The referee is pointing to the centre spot, but the linesman has his flag up for offside and the goal is disallowed.
In 67' Wanchope wins a corner after some harrying play down the left, but Miguel Angel's corner poses no danger to the Atletico defence, which has coped with everything Malaga has had to offer so far. Likewise Malaga's strong men in the middle, Fernando Sanz and Cesar Nevas have snuffed out the threat from Fernando Torres and Salva.
In fact, the first time we see Salva in the game is after 69'. We know from last year that he can be apparently quiet in a game then appear out of nowhere and score a goal, so it's no surprise really when we've had to wait so long to see a glimpse of the threat posed by our former hero. He slips in behind Fernando Sanz for the first time in the game and gets in a powerful shot which Arnau palms away. Then, it's goodbye Salva as he is substituted for Colsa to warm and affectionate applause from the home support.
In 73' Juanito goes down in a heap after a disputed tackle with Nano, who is a big and awkward sort of a player. Juanito has to be helped off by the physios for further treatment. Nano, meanwhile is fit enough to take the freekick awarded by the referee. His screamer demands much of Arnau but the Malaga Keeper makes a great diving save to keep the ball out.
Juanito returns limping heavily to the fray, perhaps hoping to run the injury off, but within two seconds of his return he is crunched to the ground by Luccin and has to be replaced by Romero, the Uruguayan making a return from injury after several weeks out of action.
In 78' Romero brings down Fernando Torres as the game continues with neither side seeming likely to make the breakthrough. Colsa, another giant centre forward, steps up to take the kick and his crashing shot beats Arnau, but comes off the inside of the far post and across the goalmouth. Whew - that was close.
In the 80' minute it's Colsa again and the Malaga goalkeeper has to make an excellent diving save to keep the ball out. Arnau collects the ball and sends it high and long into Atletico's half. The ball is only half cleared and falls to JUAN RODRIGUEZ, who finds himself in the clear. The burly midfielder/striker does not think twice and blasts the ball low into the near corner of the net from 30 yards.
Malaga 1 Atletico 0.
The crowd go wild. Geoff does an interesting dance up and down the aisle. The scoreboard erupts into a colourful display of "GOL" "GOL" and loud triumphant music blasts from the public address system, long after the restart.
Atletico are stunned and Malaga have a great chance to go two up when after a fine run by Wanchope in 84', the lanky Costa Rican cuts the ball back to Michel. The debutant is fouled in the box and the referee points to the spot! Penalty! Goal hero Juan Rodriguez steps up and takes a shot low the goalkeeper's left post. However, Leo Franco guesses correctly and makes a great save.
The final six minutes are played under a cacophony of whistles from the crowd as they try to convince the referee that he should blow for full-time any time he wished. Atletico did try to find their way through for an equaliser and it was a great relief when the referee did eventually blow for the last time.

Full-time Malaga 1 Atletico 0

A great result for Antonio Tapia's men - two wins on the trot for the new boss against teams in the league's top ten clubs. This result means that Malaga end the day out of the relegation zone, three places higher than this morning. An excellent game to watch, an excellent result. Away to Real Zaragoza next week, with another opportunity to gain some points before the next home game against bottom club, Real Mallorca.
Your Malaga CF Correspondent will be there!

Posted by hodgers at 1:22 AM | Permalink

Hello fellow Malaga CF fans!
Yes, the mighty Atletico Madrid were at La Roselda for an 8 o'clock kick off on a Saturday night. The "other" team in Madrid with 45,000 season ticket holders. Sitting in fifth place in La Liga, and with stars like Fernando Torres (wonderkid, super striker, still capable of under-21 selection, but watch him in EURO2004 in Portugal), Sergi, Dani, Aguilera, Simeone (remember him, playing for Argentina and getting David Beckham sent off in the 1994 World Cup Finals?) Malaga knew they had a game on their hands.
Manager Juande Ramos had perhaps for the first time this season a full squad to select from. How would he play this game? Defensive? Attacking? Well, he left regulars Fernando Sanz, Duda, Canabal, Rojas, Romero and Manu out to sit on the bench and chose a very attacking side, in 4-4-2 formation, Calatayud (in goal in place of injured Arnau), winger Gerardo at right back, Josemi, Litos and Valcarce, Edgar, Miguel Angel, Leko and Insua, Salva and Diego Alonso.
Atletico Madrid also had an attacking formation, playing with three forwards in a 4-3-3 formation. What was striking about Atletico on the field was their physical presence with at least five players in the 6 feet plus category.
Atletico won the toss and chose to play into the Fondo end in the first half. Malaga kicked off and from the very first kick, the game was played at a very high tempo, with both sides committed to attacking football. For the spectator (i.e. me) this was going to be an excellent football match and so it turned out.
Although there was plenty of action on the field in the opening stages, in retrospect, the two midfields cancelled each other out. What was apparent was that Malaga were going to chase every 50/50 ball and close down with two players on Atleticos's attackers and Atletico were intent on attacking at every opportunity, not like many away teams who sit camped in defence and try to work the counterattack. So an entertaining game in prospect. Of the teams I've seen this year, Atletico are up there with Valencia as the best of the teams I've seen in opposition.
The first real close thing fell to Atletico when, in the 26th minute, Fernando Torres found himself not offside (much to the chagrin of the Malaga defenders) and he unleashed an unstoppable shot which had Calatayud beaten, but it came off the nearside post and was scrambled to safety.
The quality of the football was at a high standard, with both teams working very hard, tackling and passing precisely, and the pace of the game was high, so that if one team lost possession for any reason, the other had players in position to make the counter very positively and quickly. What was apparent to me was that with Diego Alonso up front to accompany the usually solo Salva up front, how successful he was in winning the ball , either when it came to him at height or on the ground. So, when in the 31st minute, Diego Alonso gathered the ball on the left, he was in a position to pass it into the path of the onrushing Leko, from midfield. LEKO, the Croatian, is very left footed, and unfortunately the ball fell to his right. However, he had time to pass it from his right to his left and then stroke it low easily past Aragoneses in the Atletico goal into the right hand corner to make it 1-0.
With half time fast approaching, (this was a game when time passed very quickly), both Geoff and I were thinking that another goal before the change around would be necessary to give us an edge in the second half, so menacing were the front men for Atletico, particularly Fernando Torres, who, for a big man, showed he had quick feet and a quick brain for making something out of nothing.
Malaga won a corner on the left, on 45 minutes. In the absence of Duda (who normally takes all free kicks and corners), Leko took the kick. It went beyond the multitude of players in the box, but fell to DEIGO ALONSO, standing on his own, who blasted it home to make it 2-0. Oh joy!
Now would be a good time for the referee to blow for half time, we all thought, and the crescendo of whistles all around the ground served to assist the referee in this decision. However, he allowed Atletico to kick off. He also allowed them to execute some fine passes which allowed a strong run down the right wing and also for the perfect pass to the feet of NANO, who made no mistake to make it 2-1. This time the referee did not allow Malaga to restart the game by blowing for halftime. 2-1.
During halftime, Geoff and I were thinking that the game was evenly poised and that the threat of Atletico was still very strong. The goal lost on the stroke of half time was very bad news and hopefully Juande would have Our Boys stoked up to come out with all barrels from the restart and claim another goal for the cushion required to seal the game.
Juande is as good a judge as Geoff and me and Our Boys did not let us down. In 48 minutes, the always impressive, hard working and pacey Argentinean, Insua, took possession in the centre circle and started to run towards goal. He beat four men in an meandering, twisting and turning, lung bursting run, straight down the middle of the park, before releasing the ball to the grateful DIEGO ALONSO, who made no mistake from 10 yards. 3-1.
There was no lack of concentration this time as Malaga fought hard to keep their two goal advantage.
In 60 minutes Romero made his comeback after a long period of injury (although he did play for Uruguay last week) in place of the hardworking Edgar.
In 62 minutes there was a bit of a furore as a strong tackle from Josemi on Fernando Torres, who reacted violently, had a ruck of twenty players around the referee, making their point of view on the matter. The referee decided to book both players.
The matter wasn't resolved, however, when the same two players went for a ball deep inside Malaga's half. Fernando Torres used his elbow to gain advantage, but Josemi appeared to retaliate to the challenge and Spain's boy wonder went down in a heap. Again there were twenty players around the referee, whilst Fernando Torres lay prostate on the ground. The medical team rushed on, including the three(?) stretcher bearers. After a wee while, and as Fernando Torres was stretchered off, the referee brandished a second yellow and a red card for the young superstar. What about Josemi? No second card, but Juande sensibly substituted him with Fernando Sanz at the earliest opportunity (in 67 minutes).
Further substitutions were made by 10 men Atletico, who ended up playing a 3-2-4 formation to try and get something from the game. But without Fernando Torres, they looked more ordinary and the goal opportunities fell to Malaga, with Salva, in particular, keen to add to his already impressive tally for the season. Although Duda came on as a late sub for Gerardo, Malaga were unable to increase their advantage and the game finished 3-1 to the home side.
A fantastic victory over a good side. A great game to watch and a good result for the home fans who again showed their support for their team. Spare a thought, briefly, very briefly, for Musampa, the former Malaga favourite, who came on a sub for Atletico, and despite his trickery and positive contribution to his side's cause, was booed and whistled every time he was on the ball.
At the end of the day, Malaga await the results of Sunday's games to see if they have made any progress up the table. Next week they are away to Barcelona and then home to Deportivo. More tough matches, but if Malaga are to realise a European dream, then they must take points from these forthcoming matches.
Next home game is scheduled for 25th April against Champion's League contenders, Deportivo. Your Malaga CF correspondent will be there!

Posted by hodgers at 4:23 AM | Permalink