🏏 Mon, 24 Aug 2026 21:30 CEST
Malaga
vs
Deportivo La Coruna
4-1-4-1 vs 4-2-3-1
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- Two promoted sides meet with contrasting openings behind them. Malaga sit 20th on zero points after a 0-2 defeat away at Atletico Madrid, while Deportivo La Coruna are 10th on a single point following a 1-1 home draw with Elche. Sevilla already top the table with six points from two games, so this first home fixture of the campaign is Malaga's earliest chance to climb off the bottom.
- It is a 4-4-2 mirror match, and the central battle should settle who dictates. Malaga line up with Joaquin Munoz, Dani Lorenzo, Isan Merino and Juan Cruz across midfield, the 20-year-old Merino a 2006-born utility man who made 37 appearances last season and extended to 2028, able to cover holding, box-to-box and even emergency centre-back roles. Deportivo answer with Fiorentina-schooled anchor Lorenzo Amatucci, 22, alongside 163cm conductor Mario Soriano, an Atletico Madrid academy product who played every match of the promotion campaign.
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 37, leads Deportivo's line after signing from Marseille. A career taking in Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea and Milan has not dulled his timing of runs in behind, and he is the designated penalty taker. Marking him is a Malaga pairing of 185cm Einar Galilea, 32, an Alaves academy graduate who passed through Istra 1961 and Sochaux, and 23-year-old Angel Recio, also 185cm.
- Malaga's own spearhead is Carlos Ruiz, the 22-year-old who won the Segunda scoring title with 25 goals and chose to stay for the top-flight campaign. At 185cm he gives the hosts a physical reference point against a Deportivo centre-back pairing of Miguel Loureiro, 29, who has no first-division experience after years with Lugo, Andorra and Huesca, and 21-year-old Belgian Lucas Nubi, recruited from Standard Liege.
- The goalkeeping duel is a story in itself. Alfonso Herrero, the 32-year-old Malaga captain, has played 129 of a possible 130 league games in three seasons and kept 13 clean sheets last term to drive the club's return to the top flight after eight years away. Deportivo counter with Leonardo Roman, a 189cm 26-year-old signed from Mallorca for around nine million euros this summer, whose form there earned him a Spain call-up.
- Homegrown threads run through the Malaga side. Juan Cruz, 26, is back at the club after 11 years, arriving on loan with a purchase option after scoring seven in 22 games for academy side Atletico Malagueno. At left-back, canterano Rafita - a converted winger tied to the club until 2029 - carries the same story, using his attacking instincts from deeper positions.
- Deportivo's bench is stacked. Yeremay Hernandez, the 23-year-old left winger who takes both penalties and free-kicks, waits alongside promotion hero Bil Nsongo and 187cm Dutch striker Zakaria Eddahchouri, who made his name at Telstar. Angelino is there too: the 29-year-old academy graduate is back at his boyhood club on loan from Roma after spells with Manchester City and RB Leipzig.
- Malaga's game-changer is No.10 David Larrubia, who scored the goal that clinched promotion and averaged above 7.3 by rating last season on the back of his dribbling and set-piece delivery. Behind him sit Juren Lobete, 25, a Real Sociedad academy product comfortable across the front line, and Eneko Jauregui, a 184cm, 81kg striker who scored four goals last term - useful options if the hosts need to force the issue late.
- Width will matter too. Munoz, an Atletico Madrid academy product whose speed and unpredictable movement helped fire the promotion push, and right-back Carlos Puga, an ever-present at 25 last season, are Malaga's principal outlets. Deportivo respond with Italian full-back Giacomo Quagliata, 26, a veteran of Cremonese and Catanzaro whose duelling and relentless running was a pleasant surprise last term, while 36-year-old Joaquin Navarro seals the opposite flank.