Malaga hindered by their poor aim as they fall to Girona

Natxo González introduced six changes to the starting eleven, increasing his side's midfield presence up to three, while also confiding once more in youngsters Roberto and Antoñín in attack.

The changes worked. Girona, who tend to shy away from playing a direct type of football and aim to pass the ball around from box to box, struggled to get to grips with the game. As a result, Malaga's control over the play was clear, and that translated to many chances, some of which should have been slotted home.

For the first time in months, the Blue and Whites were flamboyant on the pitch and showed more maturity than in the last few weeks. They seemed to be working in unison and they hadmore more than ten attempts on goal, one of their better tallies all season. But Malaga's finishing precision was nowhere to be seen.

Yet Girona only needed one chance to open the scoring and steal all three points away from the Andalusians, who are now at their lowest point of the season, with González's future in serious doubt.

The club's next big test will be on 9 April at 6.15pm against a high-flying Real Valladolid, who are third in the league and pushing for promotion.