29th October 2008 - Málaga 1 - 1 Mallorca
Málaga CF: Goitia; Manolo, Lolo, Cuadrado, Nacho; Cheli (Apoño, m. 55), Barros, Duda, José Juan Luque (Eliseu,
m. 65); Fernando and Alberto Luque (Adrián, m.74).
Mallorca: Scaloni, Ramis, Nunes, Corrales; Callejón (Jurado, m. 60), Mario Suárez, Cléber Santana, Gonzalo
Castro, Keita (Martí, m. 79) and Webó (Trejo, m. 46).
Trainers from both clubs put out squads somprising footballers who are not usually included in League games.
This meant that the twenty two men and substitutes who were included were motivated to do their best.
Málaga had a reasonable start and controlled the visitors until Cheli scored in the 36th minute. The
blue and whites did well to block Mallorca's attempts and the halftime score gave Málaga the advantage. However
there was a second half and barely had the referee blown his whistle to start than Mallorca shot out of the starting blocks,
shunted up the field and Keita scored in the early seconds. From then on it was a tough game with the visitors very
aggressive in their style of play. Málaga's performance diminished during the second period but managed to button down
the hatches and prevent a loss.
Now it all rests on the second round.
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12th November 2008 - Mallorca 2 - 0 Mallorca
Mallorca: Lux; Scaloni, David Navarro, Ramis, Ayoze; Callejón(Jurado, min. 65), Martí, Cléber Santana, Castro;
Trejo (Aduriz, min. 84) and Webó (Keita, min. 68).
Málaga: Goitia; Gaspar, Lolo, Iván Cuadrado (Apoño, min. 69), Nacho; Cheli (Eliseu, min. 61), Barros, Weligton,
José Juan Luque (Adrián, min. 61); Fernando and Albert Luque.
During the first half the team appeared to be very lacklustre and half asleep with not one shot at goal.
Once Antonio Tapia made his substitutions, especially when Apoño came on, the Costa del Sol side had a bit more bite
- but withouth teeth! The best player by far was defender Manolo Gaspar, who worked the field in an effort to raise
the game but without help he could not succeed. Mallorca dominated the game from start to finish and deserved to get
through. The icing stripped of a very dry, unappetising cake was when Weligton got himself red carded. He did
not look happy from start to finish, he certainly didn't perform to his ability.
I guess that Málaga can now concentrate on the League!
