Date/Time: Oct 22, 2011, 2:00pm
Competition: Spain La Liga
Live/Repeat: Live
Venue: Estadio La Rosaleda (Málaga)
Málaga vs Real Madrid Match Preview
Barcelona and Sevilla’s matchup will end Saturday’s La Liga football show but in the penultimate fixture of the day, Real Madrid will lock horns with Malaga.
Malaga’s mission is to recover from the heavy damage they suffered in the hands of on-fire Levante. Last weekend, all went wrong for Manuel Pellegrini’s new-look team.
Despite enjoying 57% of ball possession, they succumbed to a first-half rout. Barkero, Juanlu and Arouna Koné each found the net to hand Malaga a resounding 3-0 defeat—their second of the La Liga campaign.
Considering Real Madrid’s current hot form, Malaga’s chances to win on Saturday may appear to be rather slim. However, they could still build on a number of factors to get their way through.
In the first place, Malaga have won the totality of their home matches in La Liga. Their record at La Rosaleda recalls that they’ve scored 8 goals and conceded only twice in 3 matches.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, have some work to do away from home. They’ve been extremely inconsistent. In their first encounter away from the Bernabeu, they trounced Real Zaragoza 6-0 but their next trip turned out to be sour as Levante slapped them with a shocking 1-0 defeat.
Later, the Spanish giants got nothing more than a single point from a goalless draw as a reward for their uninspiring performance against Racing Santander. It’s only this month that Real Madrid bounced back from these unfortunate away results by condemning Espanyol to a 4-0 loss in Catalonia.
Having coached Real Madrid for a year, Malaga boss Manuel Pellegrini should have an idea or two about Los Blancos’ tricks. With the experience of Santi Cazorla and former Real Madrid stars Julio Batista and Ruud van Nistelrooy, Los Boquerones could embarrass Jose Mourinho’s men.
But the skill of Cristiano Ronaldo, Higuain, Özil and Kaka simply gives Real Madrid the edge ahead of this fixture. The Spanish giants aren’t contemplating the possibility of facing a goal drought after hitting 14 goals in their last 3 matches in La Liga. They are just thinking about maintaining the momentum all the way to glory.
