Malaga moves to seventh place in La Liga

LA LIGA FIXTURES

 

Saturday, March 3
Getafe	1-3	Malaga	Recap
Vallecano	4-2	Santander	Recap
Mallorca	1-1	Osasuna	Recap
Barcelona	3-1	Gijon	Recap
Sevilla	1-1	Atletico	Recap
Sunday, March 4
Zaragoza	2-1	Villarreal	Recap
Bilbao	2-0	Sociedad	Recap
Granada	0-1	Valencia	Recap
Real Madrid	5-0	Espanyol	Recap
Monday, March 5
Levante	3-1	Real Betis	Recap
More: La Liga| Standings|Stats

Malaga climbed to seventh in the Primera Liga after beating Real Mallorca 3-1 at La Rosaleda stadium on Sunday.

Michael Pereira put the visitors ahead with the game less than four minutes old but Seba Fernandez equalised soon after for Malaga.

Jeremy Toulalan then put the hosts in front in the second half and Salomon Rondon extended his team's advantage with 23 minutes remaining.

Mallorca could not find a way back as Malaga held on for their ninth victory of the season.

The result has allowed Manuel Pellegrini's men to bounce back from last Monday's 2-1 loss at Granada and left them just one point behind fourth-placed Levante, who hold the last Champions League qualifying spot.

Mallorca are in 14th place following their ninth defeat of the campaign.

The Andalusian side dominated the opening stages but Mallorca went in front when Pereira's 30-yard free-kick towards the far post beat Malaga goalkeeper Wilfredo Caballero.

Mallorca goalkeeper Dudu Aouate was unable to hold onto Rondon's hard drive from the edge of the area and Fernandez got the easy tap-in to level things up a short time later.

Malaga struggled to break Mallorca's well-placed defence, yet when they did before the interval, Santi Cazorla nodded Nacho Monreal's cross off target from a good position.

The hosts were rewarded for their efforts in the 54th minute.

Mallorca cleared a corner kick only as far as Toulalan and his right-footed strike from outside the area beat Aouate.

Aouate then made two vital saves to clear Isco and Sergio Sanchez's attempts on goal to keep his team in the game.

But there was little the goalkeeper could do to deny Malaga's third.

Sergio Sanchez fed an unmarked Rondon at the heart of the area and his well-struck effort went underneath the goalkeeper.

Malaga controlled the final stages of the game to seal three valuable points as they maintained their hunt for Champions League football next season.