Barcelona Vs Malaga Match report

Gerardo Martino’s Barcelona claimed a hard-fought victory over Malaga on Sunday night, escaping La Rosalada with a 1-0 scoreline.

Els Blaugrana dominated possession for long periods but could only convert once, the goal coming from Adriano’s long-range wonderstrike, and los Boquerones posed a threat all game long.

Fabrice Olunga came closest to levelling for the visitors, but he struck the post after wonderful work from Roque Santa Cruz.

Malaga started the game the better side, packing in two banks of four and counterattacking with pace.

This much-changed outfit have suffered due to the loss of several key players over the summer, and the likes of Bartlomiej Pawlowski and Fabrice have been drafted in by Bernd Schuster on an emergency basis.

It was an incredibly defensive stall from the very beginning, predicated on absorbing pressure and breaking upfield swiftly with four or five bodies.
After a rocky opening five minutes, Martino’s side tightened up and began to control possession and tempo of the game. The delightful flicks began to appear, and soon after the first clear-cut chance cropped up.
In the closing minutes, Jesus Gamez’s cross should have been converted by substitute Sebastian Fernandez at close range, but Valdes pulled off a stunning point-blank save.

Barca escaped with three points, but many questions will be levelled as a result.

Pedro ran between the right-back and centre-back, picked up Cesc Fabregas’s perfect through-ball and attempted to round ‘keeper Willy Caballero.
But his touch was poor, and the onrushing shot-stopper was able to gather the ball with ease
Malaga grew into the game, with Sergio Sanchez playing the part of superman in defence, but just before halftime, Barca struck.
The ball was fed out to the right, Alexis Sanchez played it inside to Adriano, and the Brazilian smashed a curling, long-range effort into the bottom corner.