With Lionel Messi on song, the Andalusian outfit conceded four goals and had a solitary strike hitting the back of the net to show for their efforts at the Camp Nou.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carles-Puyol-c8331 opened the scoring just before the quarter hour mark. The Spanish international’s strike was rendered useless by Rondon’s equalizer with the clock ticking 26 minutes.
The Venezuelan attacker’s efforts were rendered useless by Lionel Messi, who gave another magical performance at the Camp Nou. The Albiceleste captain finished the match with a hat-trick, propelling him to 46 strikes in the ongoing La Liga season.
Malaga manager, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Manuel-c23383 Pellegrini, admitted defeat against Pep Guardiola’s charges but stated that the result did not do them justice as it flattered the hosts.
The Chilean tactician claimed that the Andalusian outfit gave a good account of their abilities in Catalonia, but the score line makes for a deceiving interpretation. He pointed out the saves made by Jose Pinto during the match and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296’s goals from
the spot to support his argument.
"We did not lack ambition and the result did not reflect what happened at all," he noted. "We played a good game and did not deserve to lose.”
"[http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pinto-c30032 made three very important saves and Messi's two penalties decided the game.”
With two matches remaining until the end of the 2011/12 season, Malaga are on course of securing qualification for UEFA Champions League with Levante hot on their heels.
Pellegrini stated that Los Boquerones cannot stop in their pursuit now and need to keep on fighting until the end.
Continuing on the subject, the former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/River-Plate-c40368 manager stated that he is happy with how the fortunes of Malaga have changed over the course of the season. He pointed out that they were battling against relegation last season and are now contending for
European berth.
"But we just have to keep fighting in these last two games to finish as high up the table as possible because I think that Malaga has had a very good campaign.”
"We were fighting for the relegation last season and now we are fighting for a place in Europe."
Malaga take on the challenge of Atletico Madrid and Sporting Gijon in their final matches.
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