The first point of the season for Las Palmas. Rubén Castro scored for the away side. UD Las Palmas were forced into two changes in their starting line-up tonight at La Rosaleda stadium in Málaga. Álvaro Lemos and Kirian came in for the injured Benito and Fabio. Stiker Drolé, who made the trip to Málaga with the rest of the squad, was the player to be left out by Pepe Mel, due to the fact the papers from the Sports Board didn't arrive at LaLiga headquarters on time.
Málaga started the game on top. They controlled possession and played with more conviction in the first few minutes. Their first chance came following a poor clearance by Josep Martínez. Adrián González took advantage of the error but sent his shot wide (min. 14). Six minutes later Pedri found himself in space and got in a shot, but fired over the bar. Then when David Timor lost possession in midfield, Adrián González stole the ball, ran on to the Las Palmas area, and following a dummy fired a shot against the post beyond the reach of Josep (min. 30).
Las Palmas were unable to link up with Rubén Castro. He was always with his back to the goal and tightly marked, making it hard for him to get into a goal-scoring position. The game was being broken up by continual interruptions. Despite this, and the fact that Málaga were in control of the game, the teams went in at half time goalless.
The second half started with a superb goal by Rubén Castro for Las Palmas (min. 48). The striker saw opposing goalkeeper Munir off his line and hit the ball over him from fully 25 metres. Then as Las Palmas were enjoying their best spell of the match, in the 53rd minute Kirian hit a cross shot which the home goalkeeper turned away for a corner. The lead allowed Las Palmas to play a more expansive football, as they were showing greater confidence.
Málaga got back into the game thanks to a penalty after a foul by Aythami Artiles on Juanpi, stroked home by Adrián in the 79th minute. Straight after this Eric Curbelo headed wide from a corner from the left. The home side also had their chances in the final crazy minutes of the match, which ended with a share of the points.
