Real Madrid dropped more points against Malaga this weekend, falling nine points behind Barcelona in the La Liga title race and making a come back look extremely unlikely.
It may seem like two points dropped for the La Liga giants, but in many ways they can consider themselves lucky to have got the draw. The home side looked the stronger of the two for almost the entire game, and had they taken a few more of their chances the game could have been put to bed early on. They squandered a number of good opportunities however, and were eventually punished by Cristiano Ronaldo and a blind linesman.
Madrid earned a free-kick in a dangerous area, but even as they prepared to take it Ronaldo was clearly way, way offside. He didn’t even come close to getting back onside before the free-kick was taken, but somehow the linesman failed to notice this, and the Portuguese forward was able to freely head past the Malaga keeper Carlos Kameni. It was a great header to be fair to the Madrid man, but it unquestionably should have been ruled out.
It looked as though Malaga might fall apart having conceded so disappointingly after dominating initially, and less than a minute after conceding they brought down Ronaldo in the box to give him a penalty. Thankfully for Malaga Kameni made a superb save though, and gave themselves a lifeline and a chance to get back into the game.
Ronaldo’s penalty miss would prove massive, but he wasn’t to know that at the time.
Malaga continued to create the better chances, but their forwards were failing to take their opportunities. Juanpi had a great opportunity when he was put through one-on-one with the keeper, but with one eye on the chasing defenders, he scuffed his shot horribly.
Just past the hour mark Malaga finally got the breakthrough, with the defence taking things into their own hands after seeing their strikers struggles. Centre back Raul Albentosa capitalised on some poor Real Madrid defending to get on the end of a wicked cross, applying a striker’s finish to smash it into the back of the net.
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There were chances for both sides before the end of the game, with Real Madrid furious when a Luka Modric penalty shout was turned down. In the end neither side were able to break the deadlock though, and it finished 1-1 with the spoils shared.