Málaga 1 - Rayo Vallecano 1

Málaga: Contreras; Rojas, Fernando Sanz, Bravo, Roteta; Rufete (Edgar 87'), De los Santos, Sandro (Movilla 33'), Agostinho; Darío Silva (Canabal 85'), Dely Valdés. 4-4-2.
Rayo: Keller; Alcázar, De Quintana (Patxi Ferreira 75'), Ballesteros, Mingo; Poschner, Quevedo; Iván Iglesias (Mauro 70'), Luis Cembranos, Michel; Bolic (Bolo 70'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Málaga: No change / Rayo: Alcázar, De Quintana, Michel, Luis Cembranos for Urbano, Patxi Ferreira, Helder, Setvalls.

Goals:
1-0. 05. Darío Silva. Shot past keeper after Dely dummied over Agostinho cross.
1-1. 21. Michel. Trapped long ball from left, cut in and shot wide of Contreras.

Málaga and Rayo did themselves no favours after sharing the points in the Rosaleda stadium. Both teams still have an outside chance of making the European spots, and they were looking for the three points to consolidate their position amongst the leading candidates. Málaga took the lead early on through Darío Silva, the man known locally as 'Crazy Horse', after his strike partner Dely Valdés cleverly stepped over Agostinho's cross to leave him free in front of goal. But Rayo didn't give up and Michel, back in the side after a one match suspension, levelled the scores with a brilliant individualist goal, trapping a long cross from Alcázar and rounding Rojas and Sanz before shooting past Contreras.

Both sides had scoring chances in the rest of the first half, with Keller saving from Rufete and Bolic clearing off the line from a Sanz header later on. Movilla replaced the injured Sandro before half time for Málaga, and Dely just failed to get to his long pass minutes after the restart. With Agostinho and De los Santos in charge of midfield the home side took the initiative in the second half, the Portuguese forcing another save out of a confident Keller. But Ballesteros and de Quintana held fast to frustrate the home attackers, and substitute Bolo almost stole away the three points a couple of minutes from the end. Both teams ended the day in midtable, occupying the tenth and eleventh places respectively, and short of making the Intertoto positions they don't have much to play for right now.