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Malaga's players celebrate one of Sadiku's goals on Friday.
Sadiku at the double to lift Malaga out of the drop zone

Sadiku at the double to lift Malaga out of the drop zone

Víctor's side leapfrogged their opponents Tenerife into 17th place with a 2-0 victory last Friday

frank gavurin

Friday, 13 December 2019, 13:56

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Malaga moved out of the relegation zone after picking up a vital three points in their relegation battle by beating Tenerife 2-0 at La Rosaleda last Friday evening.

They were boosted pre-match by the return of captain and second-top scorer Adrián, who started in a double-pivot alongside Keidi Bare, behind the attacking quartet of Juankar, Dani Pacheco, Antoñín and Armando Sadiku.

With the exception of one early half-chance for the visitors from a free-kick, the Blue and Whites controlled the first half, but real goalscoring opportunities were at a premium. The first opportunity of note came when Malaga right-back Cifu found himself drifting into the box almost unopposed, but his shot, on his weaker left foot, was unconvincing.

The home sides patience was rewarded on 26 minutes, however, when a corner drifted in from the right, panicked efforts were made to clear, and the ball fell to Sadiku, who had the calmness to control and fire into the roof of the net from close range.

The edge in the battle against the drop?

  • Next up for Malaga is a trip to Almedralejo where they will take on fellow strugglers Extremadura (Sunday, 12pm). Last season, Extremadura did the double over Malaga, with the latter defeat at La Rosaleda (2-1) proving to be the final nail in the coffin for coach Juan Ramón Muñiz.

  • This weekend's match could be even more crucial, however, as Malaga look to battle against relegation to Segunda B. So far, three of the side's four victories have come against sides currently occupying the relegation places (the other was against Oviedo who are just a point above them).

  • These so-called 'six-pointers' could be the difference between the second and the third tier come June.

Malaga had keeper Munir to thank that they carried a lead into the dressing room at half time, after he smothered the ball at Dani Gómezs feet when the Tenerife number nine was sent racing through on goal.

Tenerife were far more involved after the break and with Malaga lacking a real outlet to counter, the visitors ramped up the pressure.

However, Malagas new-found solidity in defence (this was their second clean sheet on the bounce) was once more in evidence and they were given the chance to double their lead with around 15 minutes to go after a lengthy VAR check revealed a handball in the area. Sadiku stepped up and passed the ball into the net for his sixth league goal of the season.

Tenerifes recent managerial appointment, Rubén Baraja, felt his side had been hard done by, insisting that the VAR had been on Malagas side, a suggestion refuted by his Malaga counterpart Víctor Sánchez del Amo: To the best of my knowledge, VAR isnt there to benefit any team. Its there to correct errors. Our victory shouldnt be reduced to that one [penalty] decision.

Víctor described Fridays display as his sides most professional so far this season. We always looked assured.

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