Real Madrid vs Malaga: 5 key talking points

#4 Malaga's exciting attackers make Real Madrid sweat bullets

Diego Rolan was a livewire in attack for Malaga from the get-go. He was pumped up and running at the Madrid defence, fearless and focused. Rolan got a well-deserved goal to equalize and did not act for one second like the cat that got the cream. He continued to toil.

The same could be said of Keko and Chory Castro who were constantly on the front foot and helped launch several threatening counterattacking moves against Zizou's men.

In fact, Chory Castro was so influential for Malaga that he retrieved the ball 7 times. Let's not downplay that because he did that against a midfield that consists of Casemiro, Kroos and Isco.

They were also harshly denied a goal in the 45th minute when Baysse found the net after climbing above Carvajal. But the referee blew the whistle for half-time and disallowed the goal for a shove from the back.

If Malaga carry on in the same vein, the ball is going to hit the net far more often than it has for them this season and that is nothing but good news.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Shambhu Ajith