Málaga CF and Nàstic de Tarragona met this Saturday 22nd June in the second leg of the playoff final for promotion to LaLiga Hypermotion. The Blue and Whites were defending a slight 2-1 advantage from the first leg just seven days earlier at La Rosaleda.
There was a great atmosphere at the Nou Estadi Costa Daurada with 14,531 spectators and over 500 Malaguistas present.
Málaga CF’s starting-11 consisted of: A. Herrero; Jokin, Juande, Einar, Víctor; Genaro, Manu Molina, Ferreiro, Kevin, Dani Lorenzo and Roberto.
Equality prevailed in the first 45 minutes. Both teams fought hard to control the ball in the wide area and exchanged approaches.
Pellicer's men, well positioned in defence, barely allowed any dangerous approaches. Meanwhile, the local defence also blocked the Blue and White attacks during the first half. With the initial 0-0 score we reached half-time.
The second half started with the same intensity as the first. Nàstic tried to advance lines but the Malaguista midfield barely allowed them to operate. Ferreiro, in the 62nd minute, left at speed facing the goal when local player Nacho stopped him with a foul. The referee showed him the second yellow card and he was sent off the pitch.
The Catalan team finally managed to take the lead in the 74th minute of play. Alan Godoy scored with a finish from a throw-in in the area.
Málaga CF advanced lines and bottlenecked their rival in their area, but despite the great insistence of the Blue and Whites, the end of regulation time was reached with the score at 1-0, which sent the final into extra time.
In extra time, Málaga CF needed a goal to turn the tie around. However, Santamaría immediately made it an uphill struggle for the Blue and Whites thanks to a great header that made it 2-0 on the Nou Estadi Costa Daurada scoreboard (94').
The team tried to close the gap, but the match remained 2-0 after the first half of extra time. Despite this, the team continued looking for the goal to keep them alive.
Dioni was in charge of laying the first stone. The Malaguista '17' took advantage of a rebound from the local goalkeeper to score the first goal for the Blue and Whites in the 108th minute. With the score at 2-1, the match was stopped by the referee with five minutes remaining.
After the restart, Málaga CF pushed with the entire team in search of the second goal. After numerous corner kicks and lateral crosses, and with Alfonso Herrero settled in the attacking zone, a clearance fell at the feet of Víctor, who returned the ball to the inside of the area. After a transfer between C. Puga and Roberto, Antoñito Cordero controlled the ball and finished inside the small area to go level.
Málaga CF defeated Gimnàstic de Tarragona in the tie (4-3) and move up to the Second Division.