Some sweet strikes and a dose of luck helped Spanish club Malaga CF trounce Adelaide United 5-1 in an international soccer friendly on Friday night.
The La Liga outfit outclassed their A-League opponents in the pre-season fixture before a 23,254-strong crowd at Adelaide Oval.
Adelaide’s Osama Malik gifted the visitors the opener with an own-goal before the Reds conceded three goals in 14 minutes in the second half – a scoring spree punctuated by a reply from Reds striker Bruce Djite.
Malaga, tuning up for their La Liga opener on August 24, set an early tone of dominance with three gilt-edged scoring chances before Malik’s brain-fade gave them a goal in the 18th minute.
After a corner, Malaga’s Samu Castillejo’s first-time volley bounced to Malik, who inexplicably turned a header into his net – the Adelaide defender furiously slapped his head at his error while his teammates shook theirs.
Adelaide managed to find the Malaga net in the 24th minute when Isaias drove goalward only for his teammate Nigel Boogard to get a touch on the shot from an offside position to have the goal disallowed.
After trailing 1-0 at halftime, the Reds rapidly slipped further behind.
In the 49th minute, Pablo Perez crunched a powerful right-footer into the net from 20 metres out.
Four minutes later, teammate Luis Alberto neatly curled a free-kick into the top corner of the net from the same distance.
Adelaide’s Djite responded in the 59th minute, beating the keeper with a superb long-range left-footer.
But the Spaniards replied just four minutes later when Perez cut through the Adelaide defence and laid a perfect pass into the path of Juanmi at the far post and he duly tapped in.
Juanmi added another in the 86th minute with a sliding tap-in from a metre out to cap a resounding triumph.
Adelaide United coach Josep Gombau said despite the lopsided result, the international friendly was worthwhile.
“It’s a good game for them to learn … the result is honest, it reflects what happened,” Gombau said.
Malaga CF coach Javi Garcia said although his side won easily, he was impressed by the Reds,
“They’re a good team, they work hard. It might not have been their best day but it was a relatively good game from both teams given it’s preseason,” he said.
yewonk
Guest
I strongly agree avleague teams playing these european sides can only help to improve the standard but I dont know when we will see the next given the ffa want $250,000 from a league clubs to host these teams
yewonk
Guest
He meant he saw it in a dream
Kasey (on holiday)
Guest
exactly this conundrum. With FFAs admirable desire to grow the game, any GF Adelaide earn the right to host will surely be at Adelaide Oval. Playing the odd game at an Oval venue is an acceptable(to me at least ) compromise to ensure the continued growth of the game in our country. As for the "all Ovals suck for football" blanket statement. I can't agree Fuss. I can name a handful of football venues in use every year around the world for more prestigious games than our GF that have athletics tracks around them. An AFL/Cricket oval is far from ideal, but at least there exists the opportunity on a semi regular basis in Australia to get 40k fans into an A-League game without compromising the integrity of the pitch Dimensions. (as our American cousins often have to do when they squeeze a football pitch into the odd shape of an MLB stadium.) Perhaps your frustration stems from your location in Victoria where the AFL stadium lobby seems all powerful and also from your club's slavish devotion to Docklands Stadium when a perfectly brilliant AAMI Pk lies 2 train stations away?? I hope you and your fellow Victree fans enjoy pouring money into the AFL's hip-pocket once they take ownership of that venue;)
AR
Guest
If the surface looked terrific (and it is) is the only reason that "Adelaide Oval should never be used for football matches", because it is an oval? It begs the question, what is the most important thing - easy access to the stadium, rectangular configuration for the patrons, or the quality of the pitch? In other stadiums which are usually chewed up by the rugbies at this time of year, I thought 2 out of 3 for an exhibition match was a very good outcome, and a bumper crowd to boot.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Clearly never been to Lang Park haha
AZ_RBB
Guest
It's a harsh reality of Australian football. We can't afford to build massive purpose built stadiums nor can we afford to turn away thousands of willing patrons to instead play on a small rectangular pitch. With only 2 large (40k+) rectangular stadiums in the entire country, this will always be a challenge. I doubt we'll ever have a third one, at least not for another 20yrs.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Nice to see Bruce put one in for the home side. Let's remember that the Reds are competing against other HAL sides for silverware, not Barca, RM or Atletico. If anything it should inspire our local lads to raise their standards. All good no down side.
pete4
Guest
Saw the highlights (Spanish commentary) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIh2Xgy79m8
realfootball
Guest
Where did you find the stream, RBB?
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Don't disagree - like MCG and Etihad but at least we have the Rectangular Stadium (AAMI). Hindmarsh capacity for football is under 20k from what I know. Gotta love the web site guff. http://www.coopersstadium.com.au/ "Coopers Stadium is a world-class multi-use facility just 5 minutes from central Adelaide. Considered by many to be the best football stadium in Australia, Coopers Stadium is home to the Hyundai A-League’s Adelaide United Football Club. The Stadium boasts an immaculate playing surface coupled with an intimate ambience and great viewing. Apart from Football, Coopers Stadium also hosts Rugby League, Rugby Union and a variety of other sports that utilise rectangular pitches." "considered the best football stadium in Australia" - really??????
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Classy performance by Malaga. Structure, movement, organisation, passing efficiency at a level well ahead of anything I've seen from HAL & EPL teams in recent pre-season games. Adelaide Oval should never be used for football matches. But, at least the surface looked terrific .. although the quality of my video feed was poor, so I may be wrong.
RBBAnonymous
Guest
I am sure its a wonderful oval for cricket or AFL.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Pleased to read there was a good crowd and plenty of goals to keep them entertained. I'm sure they won't have been too concerned about the score line in favour of Malaga - kind of expect a win for them but the fans would have seem some excellent football. Looks like the redeveloped Adelaide oval is drawing in the patrons.
Bobbym
Guest
Adelaide should have been better prepared with another 4or 5 preseason games under their Belt- GLORY will be belted.
RBBAnonymous
Guest
I watched that game on a stream and Malaga were brilliant. Simply outclassed Adelaide, amazing goals, amazing football.
gwagh
Guest
Got to love Gombau's honesty, he knows when his team are outplayed and accepts it, but you can bet he's working on a way to improve the team for next time.