Granada leave it late to beat Malaga in La Liga

Posted on February 7, 2012 by SoccerPunter

Inigo Lopez grabbed a late winner for Granada to boost their hopes of avoiding relegation with a 2-1 home victory over local Spain La Liga rivals Malaga on Monday.

Earlier, Odion Ighalo had put Granada ahead before Salomon Rondon equalised an entertaining and hard fought Andalusian derby which saw Malaga end the match with 10 men after Argentinian central defender Martin Demichelis was sent-off.

The defeat denied Malaga the chance to go sixth while Granada will welcome the points that lifts them to 14th spot, three points clear of the relegation zone.

Malaga had the better early exchanges as the game started at a fast and furious pace with first Enzo Maresca then Rondon shooting high and wide from good positions in the opening minutes.

Malaga’s Argentine centre-half Demichelis then met a corner with a bullet header that had to be acrobatically saved by Julio Cesar in the Granada goal, before the home team started to create some danger of their own.

First Carlos Martins tried from long range on 36 minutes then again on 52 minutes with Malaga goalkeeper Willy Caballero quick to push both efforts wide.

Granada were now on top and on 57 minutes came the opening goal, man of the match Carlos Martins found Mikel Rico who crossed from the right for Ighalo to head home.

Malaga fought back and levelled 11 minutes later when Seba Fernandez played Nacho Monreal through with a delightful flick that allowed the overlapping full-back to cross for the waiting Rondon who had an easy finish for 1-1.

Demichelis headed just wide from a free-kick on 75 minutes and Malaga seemed the likely winners until Lopez’s goal 6 minutes later.

Caballero could not hold a Guilhermo Siquiera shot and it was the centre-half Lopez who was the quickest to pounce on the rebound to the delight of the partisan home crowd.

Demichelis was sent-off for a wild challenge on Franco Jara before the final whistle to signal Granada’s second consecutive win since the arrival of new coach Abel Resino.

On Saturday Real Madrid won 1-0 away at Getafe with a Sergio Ramos header to stay seven points above Barcelona at the top of La Liga who also won 2-1 at home to Real Sociedad thanks to goals from Cristian Tello and Lionel Messi.