Real Madrid vs Malaga: 5 key talking points

#2 Malaga simply don't deserve to be in the relegation battle

Malaga players look on as Ronaldo scores after his spot-kick was saved

Boy o boy, are Malaga coming back to life?

Malaga went neck to neck with Real Madrid and enjoyed almost the same amount of time on the ball as their glorious opposition. Though they did show their defensive frailties on occasion, we saw a team that put up a spirited performance at the absolute fortress that is the Santiago Bernabeu.

The Andalusians showed a lot of heart and got back on level terms twice. Roberto even saved Ronaldo's effort from the spot but unfortunately couldn't parry it away from his path.

They came into the match on the back of 2 wins in 3 La Liga matches and though they leave with a heavy heart, they can breathe easy knowing that they looked nothing like a team that's languishing at the substratum of the table.

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