UD Las Palmas came into the game at La Rosaleda with two changes to their starting line-up, with Pedro Bigas in defence and Vicente Gómez in the midfield, with the aim of putting an end to their poor away form.
The first few minutes saw the teams testing eachother out, with both looking to study the other before trying to do any harm. Málaga attempted to launch balls into Javi Varas’ area in search of a header on target. Keko had an attempt on goal from the right hand side.
Las Palmas tried to move forward with the ball at their feet, while Málaga went for quicker attacks. Halilović had the first shot on target on the first quarter of an hour, but didn’t cause Kameni any problems.
A foul on Jonathan Viera from some way out in the 18th minute saw Mauricio Lemos send a superb shot into the far corner to make it 0-1, with the home fans breathing constantly down the referee’s neck. A great goal by the Uruguayan central defender, his second of the season.
Another free kick from the edge of the area, this time by Viera, came to nothing, as the half hour mark was reached. This high tension match then changed with an equalizer by Pablo Fornals, who unleashed an unstoppable lob that Javi Varas could do nothing about to make the scores level, (1-1), in the 27th minute.
Málaga were now exerting heavy pressure on UD Las Palmas’ attempts to move the ball forward, making life very difficult for them to find the attacking option of Halilović. The referee ruled out a goal by Keko in the 29th minute for offside, and it was Keko himself, six minutes later in the 35th minute, who played in Charles to put the Andalusian team ahead (2-1), a psychological breakthrough just before half time.
Málaga started the second half in the same tough vein, which had led to their moving ahead in the match. In the 48th minute Charles nearly made it 3-1, as he clashed with Lemos, with the crowd shouting for a penalty, which was actually foot-up by the home player. The match became a much tougher affair, as Prince hit a shot onto the far post in the 50th minute, having deflected off Camacho. Luck was against him.
Javi Varas kept out a third goal in the 53rd minute when Lemos was dispossessed. The Sevilla-born goalkeeper pulled off a great save in a one on one with Fornals, keeping Las Palmas in with a shout..
Chory Castro crashed a header against the bar in the 62nd minute, as Málaga created danger in the Las Palmas area. Quique Setién decided to bring on Mateo replacing Halilović, who had run himself into the ground. The game reached its last half hour with the feeling that anything could happen. Prince tried to turn in the box, and his shot was deflected wide for a corner.
José Rodríguez was sent off for two bookable offences, following a hard challenge on Vicente Gómez, who bled from his head due to the knock he received. Las Palmas had the extra man for the last 20 minutes of the match. Prince came close with a header, although it wouldn’t have counted.
The last few minutes flew by for Las Palmas while they seemed endless for Málaga. Tana and Javi Castellano, who had to go off again quickly following his return from injury, came on in the final few minutes in an attempt to draw their team level, but the match ended with Las Palmas camped outside their rival’s area, and unable to put an end to their losing run, the third in a row for the islanders.
