La Liga, Week 28: Malaga defeated by Espanyol, fall out of fourth place

Malaga haven’t exactly been tearing things up in the league of late but they had still managed to do enough to hold onto fourth place...until Sunday. Real Sociedad and Valencia both moved past the Anchovies thanks to Espanyol’s 2-0 victory. Here’s a recap of that match and the rest of the action on Sunday from Spain.

Malaga dropped out of fourth place in La Liga for the first time in nearly two months after their 2-0 home defeat against Malaga. Diego Colotto and Sergio Garcia scored in the second half for Espnayol despite the fact they have far less of the ball and generated half the number of shot attempts as Malaga.

Two minutes later Messi came close again after earning a free kick, drawing a foul from Alejandro Gálvez in a dangerous spot. Messi’s free kick was nearly perfect but hit off the bar and away from danger.

It’s Messi’s 18th goal in 18 league games. Every time he scores he’s breaking his own record. Just an amazing run of form.

The race for Champions and Europa League spots got even tighter today as Real Sociedad and Valencia both picked up wins and dropped Malaga temporarily down to 6th place. Getafe pulled within two points of a European spot with their win over Athletic Bilbao.

Getafe climbed within two points of a European spot and continued Athletic’s miserable season with a 1-0 defeat of Los Leones. Borja Fernandez scored the only goal of the match in the 7th minute as he finished off a curling ball to the far post from Pedro León.

In the 21st minute Malaga went back in front when Alfaro out-jumped Ramos and headed the ball off the far post and into the net. Pedro Bigas provided the service off a corner kick.

Madrid have had a habit recently in league play of struggling in the first half, bringing on Mesut Özil, and looking like their usual amazing selves in the second half. If you were expecting something different today, you’ll have been sadly disappointed.