🏏 Sun, 20 Sep 2026 14:00 CEST
Getafe
vs
Malaga
4-5-1 vs 4-1-4-1
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Match Preview
- A genuine six-pointer at the wrong end of the table: Getafe sit 17th on five points (1W-2D-3L, GD -4) while Malaga are rock bottom in 20th on three (0W-3D-3L, GD -8). Only two points separate them, and both have managed just three goals in six matches, a scoring drought that makes every set piece and every mistake decisive. Barcelona, by contrast, have 21 points from seven.
- Getafe's recent sequence reads W-L-D-D-L. Their only win came in round 2, a 1-0 home success over Racing Santander, and since then they have drawn 1-1 at home with both Celta Vigo (round 4) and Deportivo La Coruna (round 5), and lost by a single goal away to Osasuna (round 3) and Real Betis (round 6). Every one of those five games was decided by a goal or fewer, so converting home draws into home wins is the pressing issue.
- Malaga are still hunting a first win of the season. Three draws have come from a 1-1 at home to Deportivo La Coruna, a goalless afternoon against Levante and a 1-1 at Celta Vigo, but the two defeats were heavy: 0-4 away at Real Madrid in round 3 and 1-3 at home to Villarreal in round 6. Eleven goals conceded in six outings is the number that explains their three-point haul.
- The tactical crux is central. Getafe line up 4-5-1 with a flat five of Satriano, Serrano, Gudelj, Terrats and Azon, while Malaga's 4-1-4-1 leaves 23-year-old academy graduate Rafa Rodriguez alone as the single pivot. Whether Nemanja Gudelj's distribution and Francho Serrano's duel work can overload the space Rodriguez has to patrol on his own will shape the whole contest.
- Getafe's defensive backbone is built on experience past 30. Captain Djene Dakonam, 34, is not tall but reads danger early and is quick in one-on-one duels; left-back Johan Mojica, 34, is a Colombia international who has passed through Villarreal, Girona and Atalanta; and screening them is Serbia's Nemanja Gudelj, 34, a former Sevilla and Ajax regular who can also play centre-back.
- Enes Unal leads the line. The 29-year-old Turkey international, 187cm, is back at Getafe after spells at Manchester City, Villarreal and Bournemouth, and he scored 34 goals in 104 appearances during his first stint at the club. He starts here having suffered a second cruciate ligament rupture in January 2025. Just behind him is 190cm Uruguayan Martin Satriano, an Inter youth product with loan experience at Brest, Empoli and Lyon.
- Malaga's creativity runs through their number 10, David Larrubia. The 24-year-old, just 172cm, scored the goal that sealed promotion and combines close dribbling with a reliable set-piece delivery, averaging above 7.3 per game in ratings last season. Alongside him are Carlos Dotor, 25, a Real Madrid academy graduate on loan from Celta Vigo, and Dani Lorenzo, 23, a physical carrier signed from Merida.
- The goalkeeping duel could settle a low-scoring game. David Soria, 33 and 192cm, won the Europa League with Sevilla before becoming Getafe's long-serving number one. Opposite him is Malaga captain Alfonso Herrero, 32, who has played 129 of a possible 130 league matches across three seasons at the club and kept 13 clean sheets last term to drive their return to the top flight after eight years away.
- Malaga's back line is strikingly young. Jose Salinas, 25, arrived on loan from Espanyol with a purchase option and competes on the left with Rafita, an academy product converted from the wing, while the middle pairs 23-year-old Angel Recio (185cm) with 27-year-old Juan Berrocal (187cm). That group must handle Getafe's aerial threat in Unal and Satriano after shipping 11 goals in six games.
- Both benches hold genuine finishers. Malaga can call on Carlos Ruiz, the 22-year-old, 185cm striker who won the Segunda golden boot with 25 goals, and Adrian Nino, 22, an Atletico Madrid academy product who scored 12 last season. Getafe counter with Borja Mayoral, 29, a Real Madrid canterano who has played for Roma and Wolfsburg, and Belgium midfielder Orel Mangala, 28, a holding player with Lyon and Nottingham Forest on his CV.