From the third tier to the big league

How magnificent it is to have Málaga Club de Fútbol back in the big league.

I’m always professionally neutral when I’m commentating on La Liga, but I’m delighted that our local heroes have returned to the top flight for the first time since 2018.

As I’m talking about Spanish football for a North American audience on ESPN these days, I have to tell the back story of the clubs and their culture - and what a tale it is for Malaga!

Malaga join two other big city institutions who disappeared from the landscape: Deportivo La Coruña and Racing Santander. All three suffered a similar demise.

This is a different Malaga to the one that created waves over a couple of decades when the cash was splashed. It was an era when Manuel Pellegrini was manager, the likes of Martín Demichelis, Júlio Baptista, Isco, Joaquín and Ruud Van Nistelrooy wore the shirt. The club’s transfer record was broken to sign Santi Cazorla for 23 million euros.

The peak was the Champions League quarter-final in 2013. The decline started with a Uefa ban; the club spiralled into financial crisis. Despite dropping to the third tier, the fans remained loyal - and they have been rewarded.

I can’t wait to see the bright and brash young team led by Juanfran Funes. In contrast to the international names above, it is a collective of relative unknowns. It is a team that very much represents the area and is mined from local talent.

Andalusian Funes took over in crisis mid-season and utilised the young players he’d helped to develop in the successful reserve team. Chupete weighed in with 25 goals; David Larrubia scored 12; Adrián Niño signed from Atlético Madrid B and contributed eleven goals. All are from the region.

That is the “X-factor”. During the celebrations, you could see the connection between the players and the fans. Almeria’s team was more recognisable to the neutral, as their players had been recruited from elsewhere; the local boys from Malaga have soul.

Often clubs will completely rebuild a squad in the months between promotion and the first La Liga match, but I believe Funes will keep the heart of the team that defied the odds. He clearly has something special and a brand of football that both the players and supporters enjoy.

As I prepare my commentary sheets at the start of every season, the turnover of players is always noticeable; often, clubs lose what brought them up.

A sprinkle of seasoned top-flight pros would be useful to guide the young bucks. It would be incredible if they could recruit one marquee player. Imagine someone like Isco seeing out his autumn days at La Rosaleda, where it all began.

The likes of Getafe and Rayo Vallecano proved last season that clubs can be successful on the tightest of budgets. Malaga is a bigger club with a successful academy - an advantage that very few clubs have. I’m not just expecting them to survive, I predict they will thrive.

It’s also good to see two other historic clubs back in La Liga - Racing Santander and Deportivo La Coruña - who, like Malaga, have needed to rebuild after dipping into the third tier of Spanish football. La Liga is a much better competition for the return of all three.