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.
La Liga Sunday: Malaga slip up against Espanyol
Malaga finally were made to pay for their recent poor league results and dropped from fourth place to sixth place thanks to their home loss against Espanyol. Sevilla and Atletico Madrid both won, while Granada held Levante to a draw.
Jasper Juinen
Malaga 0-2 Espanyol
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.
Manuel Pellegrini made several changes to his lineup after Malaga defeated Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday. Javier Saviola, Joaquin and Julio Baptista were all rested.
A brace from Coke Andújar and two second half goals in five minutes from José Antonio Reyes and Álvaro Negredo allowed Sevilla to cruise past Real Zaragoza. The win keeps Sevilla on the edge of the Europa League spot fight but they’ll likely need to some breaks to get full back in the mix.
Zaragoza remains out of the relegation zone with a two point lead over Mallorca who were downed by Real Madrid on Saturday. Zaragoza are living a bit of a charmed life at the moment despite not having won a match in 2013 but Mallorca is starting to close in.
Osasuna 0-2 Atletico Madrid
Atletico kept pace with Real Madrid in the fight for second place thanks to a brace from Diego Costa. It took 35 minutes for Atletico to finally break through, scoring on a counter-attack. Gabi’s through-ball to Koke started the attack and the midfielder made a nice pass to Costa in the Osasuna box. Andres Fernandez saved Costa’s initial shot but the rebound went right back to the striker who headed the ball in.
Costa added a second three minutes into the second half to secure the victory and keep Atletico one point behind their city rivals for second place.
Click the link for the a full match report.
Granada 1-1 Levante
Levante's hopes of returning to the Europa League next season took a blow after they were held to a draw by Granada. Guillherme Siqueira put the home side in front in the 32nd minute, scoring on a penalty kick after Pedro Lopez committed a handball in the box. Robert Acquafresca equalized in the 50th minute for Levante but they couldn't find the winner they needed.
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