A little over five years after their epic Champions League quarterfinal against Borussia Dortmud (where they were minutes away from making the semifinals), Malaga have been relegated from the Spanish top flight following their 1-0 loss to Levante. The home side picked up the win deep into second half stoppage time thanks to a goal from Ghanaian Emmanuel Boateng.
Malaga are thus the first team from Europe’s “top five” big leagues (England, Spain, Germany, France, Italy) to be officially relegated, and it ends their 10 year stint in the top flight (they last played in the second division back in 2007/08)
The Malaga board released a statement today apologising to supporters and confirming that promotion back to the top flight was their immediate priority.
Levante’s win, while easing their own relegation fears, also puts Deportivo in a very precarious opposition- the latter are now seven points adrift of safety.
The slightly funny thing though- Malaga with 51 goals conceded (at the time of writing) will be relegated, while Betis, who’ve conceded 53, seemed headed for Europe thanks to their wonderful recent form!