Malaga 1 : 1 Celta Vigo - Malaga held by Celta

Posted Saturday, January 19, 2013 by PA

Malaga missed the chance to climb to fourth place in the Primera Division as lowly Celta Vigo battled hard for a deserved 1-1 draw at La Rosaleda.

Martin Demichelis bundled the ball over the line after a goalmouth scramble to give the hosts the lead seven minutes before the interval, but Celta grew as the match wore on and levelled 14 minutes from time as Augusto Fernandez side-footed home.

The point moves Celta two points clear of the relegation zone in 17th place, while Malaga stay fifth.

Both sides exchanged long-range efforts in the early stages with Alex Lopez trying his luck for Celta and Diego Buonanotte having a go for Malaga, but neither goalkeeper was unduly troubled.

Malaga's Willy Caballero produced the first save of note just after the quarter-hour mark when he parried a shot from Denmark striker Michael Krohn-Delhi.

But the hosts went in front from their first real attack in the 38th minute.

Some desperate Celta defending deep inside their own area saw a succession of shots blocked before the ball finally broke to Demichelis, who stabbed it home from virtually on the goal-line.

Celta's protests against a possible offside in the build-up went unheeded, much to their frustration.

Two minutes later Natxo Insa went close as Celta looked to respond but Caballero was in the right place to make a comfortable save.

Neither side offered much attacking threat after the break, so Celta's equaliser when it arrived in the 76th minute came rather out of the blue, the ball breaking to Fernandez after Lopez was shut out by the home defence and he made no mistake with a controlled low finish.

As the clock ticked over into stoppage time Demichelis headed straight at Javi Varas from a free-kick, but there was a bigger let-off at the other end moments later when Demichelis' error in dealing with a long ball left Enrique De Lucas with a clear run on goal but Caballero was quickly off his line to intercept.

There was still time for Celta to spurn another chance to claim only their second win in seven league games when De Lucas was again allowed to run through one-on-one with Caballero but Weligton got back to make a superb last-gasp tackle.