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Ludmila scored all four of Atlético's goals.
Malaga's Copa de la Reina journey comes to a premature end

Malaga's Copa de la Reina journey comes to a premature end

The gulf in quality to the league leaders was reduced by a spirited comeback and performance

MARINA RIVAS

Saturday, 1 December 2018, 12:42

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Malaga's women's team were eliminated from the Copa de la Reina on Sunday at the last 16 stage after a 4-2 defeat at the home of current league leaders Atlético Madrid.

In their first appearance in the tournament for 20 years, Malaga gave a good show of themselves in a performance which was in complete contrast to that of the opening day of the season when the reigning champions ran out comfortable 4-0 winners.

This time, Malaga showed that their adaptation to the elite is progressing well and despite being at a completely different level to their hosts, made life difficult with organised defensive lines closing off space.

The resistance lasted until ten minutes before half time when a quickfire double from Brazilian forward Ludmila gave Atleti a 2-0 lead.

Ludmila continued to be a thorn in Malaga's side in the second half, completing her hat-trick after ghosting into the area unnoticed, then adding her fourth thanks to a goalkeeping error from debutant Stefany.

Despite these lapses, the Malaga comeback was on. Captain Adriana reduced the deficit with a fine freekick before Armisa headed home a cross to make it 4-2 with fifteen minutes still to play.

With the margin down to just two, Atlético started to panic and decided to shut up shop to prevent Malaga putting their progression in the competition in jeopardy, as their play was threatening to do.

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