Unfinished business for Malaga at Zaragoza

Malaga saw out a 1-1 draw with Zaragoza on Saturday evening at La Romareda, in a game that saw the Andalusians up their defensive commitment and reduce the amount of goals they had been receiving in recent weeks. But they still struggled to deal with their opponents' set pieces and only had a single shot on target, two issues that, if dealt with properly, would have seen Natxo González's men take all three points.

The Basque coach stayed true to his word in the pre-match press conference, where he said he would like to make several changes to the line-up. Only one of the five attacking players, Jozabed, kept his place, while Kevin, Jairo, Brandon and Febas were all benched.

Malaga didn't get off to a great start and Zaragoza were intense from the get-go. While the Blue and Whites seemed to be absent in the initial fifteen minutes, they managed to maintain a compact block, closing down the lines and ensuring everyone was committed.

One long ball sent into the hosts' half by Lombán made Zaragoza quiver, and that was enough for Malaga to take back control of the game. Roberto did well to control several balls high up the pitch, one of which he passed to Antoñín, who sped past the opposition defence to slot home the first goal of the evening.

Malaga kept things tight for the rest of the half, though in hindsight they should have shown more conviction and taken advantage of a weakened Zaragoza. The hosts came out in the second half hungry for an equaliser. The Andalusians, once again, failed to get off to a good start, and clumsily gave away a penalty with 25 minutes to go, which was promply converted by their opponents.

Everything that Malaga had lacked in the opening minutes of each half turned into fuel for Natxo's men, who went on to have the majority of possession and to control the game. Goalkeeper Dani Barrio had a quiet game but the difficulty Malaga had to create chances harmed their possibilities of getting a winning goal.

The Blue and Whites will face second-place Almería on Saturday at 8.30pm, in what will be Natxo's debut at La Rosaleda and his biggest test so far, as well as the perfect opportunity for the team to kick-start this half of the season.