Dani Lorenzo opened the band with through balls. Larrubia dribbled, found the gap, and crossed. Chupe, alert, finished to score. Málaga CF’s goal against Álvaro Arbeloa’s Fulham in the recent Costa del Sol trophy made it clear that for the white-and-blue club, life goes on as usual. And although they have changed category, neither their pillars nor their roadmap have changed. The commitment to the youth academy that unexpectedly helped them get promoted to the First Division last season is the same one they continue now to fight to stay in the category. And after a calm, optimistic, and exciting summer like the city hadn’t seen in a long time, Juanfran Funes’ team, in charge from the bench, is already counting the hours until their debut in the competition. It will be tonight at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano against Atlético de Madrid (21:00, Movistar).
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A few days after achieving promotion in Almería, Málaga CF’s sporting director, Loren Juarros, asked for patience when making decisions about configuring the new squad. He took the opportunity then to remind a key element: the club is still under judicial administration. “Stability and economic viability is a fundamental premise,” said the team’s architect at the time. After those words, no one expected the entity to go to the market with a checkbook in hand and joyfully, but perhaps also that no players with top-division experience had arrived to counterbalance the predominant youth. “The market will tell us what kind of players we can reach,” Loren emphasized, who has barely touched what existed. Alongside the arrival of Fernando Calero from Espanyol, the loans of José Salinas from the same team and Juan Cruz from Leganés have been added. Only three new names, to which Carlos Dotor — who repeats on loan — and the promotion of Pablo Arriaza from the reserves are added. The club is now aiming for a creative midfielder and some key player for the defense. “There is muscle to make signings,” highlighted the insolvency administrator, José María Muñoz, a few days ago. “But the most important thing is that no one leaves,” he clarified, aware of the importance of maintaining last season’s successful core and the Málaga roots of the majority.
And there lies one of the great keys, because even the new faces have a white-and-blue past: both Calero and Cruz were raised in Málaga’s youth academy. The plan seems as clear as it is coherent. They are looking for players who integrate into the team’s dynamics, who do not break salary balances, and maintain the harmony of a locker room with white-and-blue blood. That is what the names that achieved promotion have, including the three protagonists of the goal against Fulham as heavyweights. It is a recognition they earned fairly, because Chupe scored 25 goals and Larrubia, 12. Joining them is one of the few purchases in recent years, Adrián Niño, with another dozen goals. The backbone is also preserved with Dani Lorenzo as the playmaker and Izan Merino making the team work from the guts. The defense, especially with the injuries of Calero and Murillo, is more fragile, hence some last-minute arrivals are expected.
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Connection with the stands
The feeling is that the ideal eleven can compete in the First Division, but doubts arise with Plan B, made up of young players without experience and few minutes in professional football. The squad is, in fact, the lowest valued according to Transfermarkt. However, the fans don’t care for now. Everything is fine. The austerity, the few signings, or the club’s situation, whose co-owners, the Al Thani family, are wanted by Spanish justice, do not matter. For now, the public focuses on enjoying the return to LaLiga eight years later and leaving behind a period in which they even went through the desert of the Primera RFEF. As a sign, a figure: only ten of the 26,540 season ticket holders from last year have not renewed their pass for the new season. There are even more than when the club played in the Champions League. And much younger, with an average age between 20 and 30 years. Just like the players, hence the deep connection between the pitch and the stands.
With expectations sky-high but feet on the ground, the team trained yesterday Tuesday at La Rosaleda with their minds set on the Metropolitano. They did so with the injured — Niño, Calero, Murillo, and Moussa, as well as Aaron Ochoa, with problems in the external meniscus of the right knee — doing specific work before traveling, in the afternoon, to Madrid. The eleven will be full of youth academy players. “We face it with great enthusiasm,” Funes said yesterday, days after acting as the fair’s herald. “And it will be difficult even for them to draw with us,” he insisted shortly after recounting that both he and some players were playing in the Tercera RFEF division just over a year ago. “The challenge is very responsible, but also very exciting,” he stressed hours before starting the season with a Málaga CF more Málaga than ever.
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