With video
While almost all football fans are captivated by the World Cup, tens of thousands of fans in Andalusia were still busy with the play-offs for promotion to La Liga. Málaga CF won 1-2 at UD Almería on Saturday evening and returns to the highest level in Spain after eight years.
Sports editor
The season in the Segunda División is always long. All second-level clubs in Spain play 42 matches in the regular competition. Afterwards, numbers 3 to 6 will compete in the play-offs for the third ticket to La Liga. Previously, Racing Santander (after 14 years) and Deportivo de La Coruña (after 8 years) had already been promoted. Following the success of these clubs from the north of Spain, two clubs from Andalusia met in the final of the play-offs, having won the semi-finals.
The first leg in Estadio La Rosaleda, Málaga’s home stadium, ended 0-0 last week. The decision was made on Saturday evening in the Almería stadium, where the kick-off had to be postponed from 9:00 PM to 9:30 PM.
This is due to a chaotic and unsafe situation outside the stadium. The hard core of Almería was so excited before the match that the Málaga team bus was pelted.
“We have already put what just happened behind us and focused on the match. We must always keep looking ahead. We stood still on the hard shoulder of the highway for about 50 minutes; the police stopped us there. I told the boys to keep calm. What happened teaches us a lesson in patience, and that patience could be the key to being able to cope with the match and to handle things well,” coach Juan Funes said on Spanish television before the match.
His approach clearly worked well, as Málaga took a 0-2 lead after halftime thanks to goals from Chupete (’65) and David Larrubia (’71). Shortly afterwards, Brazilian striker Léo Baptistão (’75) did something back on behalf of Almería, but the score remained 1-2 and so Málaga was promoted. In extra time, both sides received a red card, concluding a hot evening in Almería.
Málaga CF has been owned by the wealthy Qatari businessman Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani since 2010. In the first years under his rule, the club from the south of Spain still played in the Spanish sub-top and in the Champions League with big names such as Ruud van Nistelrooij, Joris Mathijsen, Julio Baptista, Isco, Santi Cazorla and Joaquín.
After Al Thani failed to become the boss of the port of Málaga, he stopped investing in the local football club. In 2018 the club was relegated to the Segunda División and in 2023 even to the third level in Spain, but on Saturday evening the second promotion in three seasons followed for Málaga.
La Liga programme