2026/2027 season

La Liga

Team page
La Liga · Team page
Málaga CF
Head coach: Juan Francisco Funes · 4-3-3 (onze aligné au Bernabéu le 30/08/2026 selon le club et l'agence EFE ; BeSoccer donne de son côté un 4-4-2 comme dispositif le plus utilisé — conflit non tranché)
Rank
20th
Pts
4
P
8
Form
🟠 Poor

The essentials at a glance

The summary of this page: estimated level of play, form trend and qualitative verdict. For the details, head to the other tabs.

Editors' ratings
2/10
Attack
5/10
Defence
2/10
Form
4/10
Confidence / mood
Current risk:Low

20th with 4 pts from 8 matches: 0 wins, 4 draws, 4 defeats.

4 goals scored, 13 conceded.

The donostiars have already relieved two Malaysian crises

Marca · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

The Málaga welcomes the Royal Society at 18: 30 in a duel between two mythical squads of the highest category of Spanish football, which arrive in dynamics totally contrary to an encounter with a favorite, although with many more kilometers on the legs for the football players of the set txuri urdin.

Mundo Deportivo · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

The Real's technician warns that the Málaga will be a very complicated rival, even though its position in the classification and its poor scorer balance can indicate otherwise

Marca · 17 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

The Venezuelan centrocampist felt inconvenience in the calf, as Matarazzo announced in the press room, which showed that he was not 100%, forcing the American technician to remove him from the grass and then to remove him from the list to travel to Malaga. & nbsp; However, the setback does not seem to be serious.

Mundo Deportivo · 17 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

How the team has played recently

Match-by-match results, record and rhythm of the current season.

Latest matches
Dvs RCD Espanyol de Barcelona (H) · 1-1
Lvs Getafe CF (A) · 0-1
Lvs Villarreal CF (H) · 1-3
Dvs RC Celta de Vigo (A) · 1-1
Dvs Levante UD (H) · 0-0
DDDDLLLL
4 scored / 13 conceded over 8 matches played
Rest: 9 days since the last match · 1 match played in the last 15 days
Home form
0W - 3D - 1L
Away form
0W - 1D - 3L
Statistics

Computed from this season's scores, every time the page is shown.

Goals scored per match
0.6
Goals conceded per match
1.2
At home
2 scored · 4 conceded in 3 matches
Away
1 scored · 2 conceded in 2 matches
Over 2.5 goals
1 of 5
Both teams score
3 of 5
Clean sheets
1 of 5
Failed to score
2 of 5
Cumulative points vs league average

Not enough matchdays recorded yet for this curve — history builds up with every standings refresh.

How Málaga CF play

System, playing identity, and what sets the team apart at both ends of the pitch.

Playing identity
Preferred system
4-3-3 (onze aligné au Bernabéu le 30/08/2026 selon le club et l'agence EFE ; BeSoccer donne de son côté un 4-4-2 comme dispositif le plus utilisé — conflit non tranché)
Philosophy
Funes, promoted from Atlético Malagueño in November 2025, relies on continuity from the promotion-winning squad and on the academy pipeline (MCF Academy), with a clear attacking approach maintained even away from home — the club described the team as having tried to play “courageously” at the Bernabéu.
Attacking strengths
Attack almost silent: just 1 goal in 3 matchdays (the equaliser in the 1-1 draw against Deportivo on 24/08), for a total of 1 goal scored, the lowest in LaLiga alongside Valencia and Celta.
Defensive solidity
7 goals conceded in 3 matches (0-2 away to Atlético, 1-1 against Deportivo, 0-4 at the Bernabéu), the worst goal difference in LaLiga (-6), level with Elche; Funes had already warned on 02/08/2026 about the build-up of injuries in the centre of defence: “It's not the same having five injuries... as having three of those five injuries be centre-backs”.
Pressing
No verified pressing data. The report of the defeat at the Bernabéu describes a team subjected to “intense pressure” from Real Madrid in the first half, with no numerical indication of its own block.
Transitions
Not reliably documented at this stage: the club acknowledges having had “no real chance to surprise” Real Madrid, with David Larrubia cited as the only individual capable of creating an imbalance.
StrengthThe core of the promotion-winning squad has been kept, a strong academy identity (Rafita, Izan Merino, Aarón Ochoa, Chupe all products of the club), promising attacking profiles (Chupe, who scored 25 goals in 43 Segunda matches according to Betfair's analysis of 15/08/2026, and David Larrubia), and six summer signings, including Cajuste and Aznou right at the end of the transfer window.
WeaknessThe most modest squad among the promoted clubs (a transfer-window balance of around -€300,000 according to Transfermarkt, cited by Betfair on 15/08/2026), a heavy treatment room from pre-season onwards, and an inability to score: 1 goal in 3 matchdays and bottom of the table.

The mood around the club, and who is missing

Internal climate, relationship with the supporters, and known absences before the next match.

Mood
Squad confidence
Low but not panicked. The club are bottom on one point, coming off a 4-0 at the Bernabéu they themselves called “an excessive punishment”, and have scored only once in three matchdays. The internal message rests on context: the first two away trips were to Atlético and then Real Madrid, and the treatment room has not emptied since pre-season. Aarón Ochoa's gradual return and the arrival in training of Adam Aznou, Juan Berrocal and Jens Cajuste at least give Juan Francisco Funes options again. Hosting Levante on Sunday is presented internally as the real season's first match.
Coach / players / board relationship
A relationship of trust between a head coach promoted from the B team and a board that extended him and let him work to the end of the window. Loren Juarros closed the window with three late additions — Aznou, Berrocal and Cajuste — that answer precisely the positions Funes had flagged since 2 August, when he warned about three centre-backs injured at the same time. The club also chose to secure its home-grown pathway, extending Pablo Arriaza until 2028 before loaning him to Estepona. No public disagreement between bench, sporting directors and presidency appears in the sources consulted. The constraint remains budgetary, not human.
Mood with the supporters
On Sunday La Rosaleda faces its first real test of patience since promotion: the club are bottom, have scored one goal, and host a fellow promoted side directly for position. The enthusiasm of returning to the Primera after eight years remains intact, sustained by communications heavily focused on the local pathway — Arriaza's extension, Naiara Legarre's call-up to Spain's under-15s, the presence of Rafita, Izan Merino and Chupe in the professional squad. The club has also announced kick-off times for matchdays 5 to 7, including hosting Villarreal on a Thursday night at 21:30, a slot unfavourable to attendance. No 2026-27 attendance figures could be verified in the sources consulted. The mood remains supportive, but hangs on a first positive result.
Pressure on the head coach
Still low, despite bottom place. Juan Francisco Funes is the man who won promotion, promoted from Atlético Malagueño in November 2025, and his contract runs at least until 2028. The opening schedule, with Atlético and Real Madrid away, is recognised as a mitigating factor by the local press and by the club alike. The treatment room, which still deprives the head coach of four players and has only just given him back Aarón Ochoa, works the same way. The pressure will rise very quickly if Málaga do not take points on Sunday against Levante and then on 20 September at Getafe.
Club objectives
Survival, with an explicitly measured transfer strategy: improve the squad without wild spending. The club built its return to the top flight on free agents, loans and keeping its young players, with a transfer balance close to break-even. The immediate priority is to get off the bottom before the mid-September run, which brings three matches in eight days including hosting Villarreal. Structurally, the academy remains the project's stated axis, as Arriaza's extension until 2028 and the exposure given to La Academia's youngsters show.
Recent internal tensions
No internal tension reported by the sources consulted. The summer's only genuinely contentious matter was medical: on 2 August Funes publicly flagged the pile-up of absences at centre-back, pointing out that five injuries including three centre-backs cannot be managed like five ordinary ones. A month later, four players are still recovering and the club had to sign in that position at short notice. The table, for its part, has so far provoked no public criticism of the head coach or the board.
Absences
BackAarón Ochoa — Gradual reintegration into the group confirmed by the club in its training update of 3 Sep 2026.
InjuredAdrián Niño — Still in the recovery phase according to the club's training update of 3 Sep 2026; length of absence not disclosed.
InjuredFernando Calero — Still recovering as of 3 Sep 2026, after the three fractured ribs announced in early August 2026 with around a month out.
InjuredDiego Murillo — Still recovering as of 3 Sep 2026; a knee injury flagged as early as pre-season, which shaped the club's defensive recruitment.
InjuredMoussa Diarra — Named among the four players still in the recovery phase in the club's training update of 3 Sep 2026.

Before kick-off

What to know before the next match: statistical form, qualitative analysis, and a computed estimate of the 1/X/2 probabilities.

Next match

Málaga CF — Real Sociedad

At homeSunday 18 October at 18:30Matchday 9
It's today. Kick-off time confirmed by the league. Paris time · football-data.org fixtures.

Prediction, odds and form of both teams →

What the press says
  • Examen de jerarquía para la Real Sociedad ante un Málaga colista y en horas bajasThis doesn't stop. The Royal Society is back on the scene. The set led by Pellegrino Matarazzo today faces a new envoy at a stadium that missed the First Division. The Málaga welcomes the Royal Society at 18: 30 in a duel between two mythical squads of the highest category of Spanish football, which arrive in dynamics totally contrary to an encounter with a favorite, although with many more kilometers on the legs for the football players of the set txuri urdin.Mundo Deportivo · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated
Prediction
EstimateMálaga CF — Real Sociedad
33 %
1 · Málaga CF
25 %
X · draw
42 %
2 · Real Sociedad
In-house calculation, from this page's standings data alone: 8 matches played by Málaga CF, 8 matches by Real Sociedad. Confidence: fair
The formula, in plain words — with this match's figures
  1. League average. 238 goals scored over 159 team-matches played (19 teams taken into account), i.e. μ = 1.50 goal scored per team per match. This is the reference point: everything that follows is expressed relative to it.
  2. Attacking and defensive strengths. Goals scored (or conceded) per match, divided by μ. 1.00 = exactly average; in defence, above 1.00 means “concedes more than average”.
    TeamGoalsRawKept
    Málaga CF — attack4 in 8 matches0.330.62
    Málaga CF — defence13 in 8 matches1.091.05
    Real Sociedad — attack12 in 8 matches1.001.00
    Real Sociedad — defence15 in 8 matches1.251.14
    The “Kept” column is the result of shrinkage towards the mean: weight = P / (P + 6), i.e. 0.57 for Málaga CF and 0.57 for Real Sociedad. The rest of the weight goes to the league average. This is what stops a lone 5-0 from producing an attack at 3.3 times the average — and hence a 95% probability.
  3. Home advantage (γ). Measured on the league itself: 1.76 goal scored on average by the host against 1.38 by the visitor, over the 45 fixtures present in each team's last 5 matches. Raw ratio 1.27; shrunk towards 1 (weight 0.43, on the log of the ratio) then capped at 1.25 → γ = 1.11. Shrinkage goes towards 1, i.e. no advantage at all: while the sample is small, the model does not assert a home advantage it cannot measure.
  4. Venue correction, specific to each team. Drawn from the home/away split: points per match at the venue concerned are compared to points per match over all fixtures, with stronger shrinkage (weight = P / (P + 8)) and a bound of ±12%.
    Málaga CF at home: 0.75 pts/match versus 0.50 overall over 4 matches → ×1.120
    Real Sociedad away: 1.50 pts/match versus 1.63 overall over 4 matches → ×0.974
  5. Expected goals. One side's attack is set against the other's defence. γ applies to the host only: applying it the other way round too would count the home advantage twice.
    λMálaga CF = 1.50 × 0.62 × 1.14 × 1.11 × 1.120 = 1.32
    λReal Sociedad = 1.50 × 1.00 × 1.05 × 0.974 = 1.53
  6. Poisson grid. Probability of every exact score from 0-0 to 8-8, assuming the two goal totals are independent, then adding up the cells: home win 32.8%, draw 24.9%, away win 42.4% — displayed rounded to whole numbers so that they add up to exactly 100. Most likely exact score in the grid: 1-1 (only 11.7%, which says enough about how unpredictable an exact score is).
Limits of this model — they are not anecdotal.
  • It only knows goals and a venue. Neither absences, suspensions, line-ups, fatigue, stakes, weather nor club context enter the calculation — while the other tabs of this page show that they matter.
  • The assumption that the two goal totals are independent is false in reality: it slightly underestimates tight scores, hence the draw.
  • γ is measured over a rolling window (each team's last 5 matches), not over the whole season.
  • The shrinkage constants (6, 60, 8) and the bounds are choices, not measurements. They were tuned to be cautious early in the season; they were not calibrated on a results history, as none is available here.
  • No after-the-fact evaluation has been made: at this stage, nobody knows whether this model is better or worse calibrated than another.
What other sources say
No external source has been collected for this match. That is the normal state: readings are taken by hand, and an empty box is better than an unverified figure.
This block shows probability estimates, not predictions, and carries no advisory value. The in-house estimate is the result of a formula applied to a small sample; the figures from external sources are reproduced as they were collected, without their method having been verified.

The full squad

The professional squad by position, captain marked with an armband.

Goalkeepers
  • Alfonso Herrero (1)
  • Carlos López (13)
Defenders
  • Carlos Puga (3)
  • Einar Galilea (4)
  • Álex Pastor (5)
  • J. Salinas (12, prêt du RCD Espanyol)
  • Ángel Recio (15)
  • Diego Murillo (16)
  • Fernando Calero (20)
  • Rafita (31)
  • Adam Aznou (prêt d'Everton)
Midfielders
  • Ramón (6)
  • Carlos Dotor (8, prêt du Celta)
  • Rafa Rodríguez (14)
  • Pablo Martínez (18)
  • Dani Lorenzo (22)
  • Izan Merino (23)
  • Otu Jr. (28)
  • Aarón Ochoa (35)
  • Jens Cajuste (prêt de Naples)
Forwards
  • Haitam (7)
  • Chupe (9)
  • David Larrubia (10)
  • Joaquín Muñoz (11)
  • Eneko Jauregi (17)
  • Juan Cruz (19, prêt du CD Leganés)
  • Adrián Niño (21)
  • Julen Lobete (24)
This team's current captain could not be confirmed with certainty at the last check — no armband is shown above until the information is reliable.
Squad last verified on 31 Aug 2026 — source: BeSoccer, Málaga CF squad page (accessed on 31/08/2026), supplemented by the club's official statements (Adam Aznou, 31/08/2026) and by ElDesmarque (Jens Cajuste, 31/08/2026). The armband attributed to Alfonso Herrero rests on a single source (Ascenso Directo, 31/07/2026), hence the uncertainty flag. Some first names appear only as an initial in the source..

What has been said recently

Chronological feed of verified information about the club.

rss18 Oct 2026
A Real aspirin for Malaga
Source: Marca
rss18 Oct 2026
Trial of hierarchy for the Royal Society before a colist Malaga and at low hours
Source: Mundo Deportivo
rss17 Oct 2026
Matarazzo cites 24 football players for Malaga with Learbier supplying the fall of Yangon
Source: Mundo Deportivo
rss17 Oct 2026
Luis Bestard, an unpublished referee for the Royal Society and Talisman for the Málaga
Source: Mundo Deportivo
rss15 Oct 2026
No truce for the Real, with only a complete training before Malaga
Source: Mundo Deportivo
rss15 Oct 2026
The Málaga, the only Primera team that still doesn't know what it's like to win
Source: Mundo Deportivo
Injury3 Sep 2026
The week's third session at La Rosaleda, three days before hosting Levante: Aarón Ochoa continues his gradual reintegration into the group, while Adrián Niño, Fernando Calero, Diego Murillo and Moussa Diarra remain in the recovery phase. The session combined a technical talk, physical work and then tactical work with the ball.
Source: Málaga CF (site officiel)
Club3 Sep 2026
Adam Aznou, Juan Berrocal and Jens Cajuste took their first session under Juan Francisco Funes, completing a group that had not yet seen its three late signings in training.
Source: Málaga CF (site officiel)
Club3 Sep 2026
On the academy front, young Naiara Legarre has been called up to Spain's under-15 squad, a distinction the club highlighted at a time when its youth pathway is also feeding the men's first team.
Source: Málaga CF (site officiel)
Transfers2 Sep 2026
Seven signings for the return to the top flight: Jens Cajuste, Juan Berrocal, Fernando Calero, Juan Cruz, Salinas, Pablo Martínez and Adam Aznou, on top of Carlos Dotor's return on loan.
Source: El Español
Contract1 Sep 2026
Pablo Arriaza, a versatile holding midfielder developed at La Academia MCF and given his first-team debut in the Copa del Rey against Talavera, has extended until 2028 before being loaned for a season with no purchase option to CD Estepona FS, in Segunda Federación.
Source: Málaga CF (site officiel)
Transfers1 Sep 2026
Centre-back Juan Berrocal, who came from Getafe, is among the registrations validated by LaLiga on 1 September, at the end of a summer in which Málaga's centre of defence was the position worst hit by injuries.
Source: Infobae (dépêche EFE)
Club31 Aug 2026
Kick-off times for matchdays 5, 6 and 7 are confirmed: Málaga will host Villarreal at La Rosaleda on Thursday 17 September at 21:30, a sequence that will force them to play three matches in eight days.
Source: Villarreal CF (site officiel)
Result31 Aug 2026
A heavy 4-0 defeat at the Santiago Bernabéu against Real Madrid on matchday 3: Málaga are in the relegation zone on one point.
Source: El Debate
Transfers31 Aug 2026
Málaga complete the loan with an option to buy of Swedish midfielder Jens Cajuste, from Napoli, after the move for Nemanja Gudelj fell through.
Source: ElDesmarque
Transfers31 Aug 2026
Spanish-Moroccan left-back Adam Aznou (20) is loaned out by Everton for the 2026-27 season; he is the club's sixth summer signing.
Source: Málaga CF (site officiel)
News last verified on 18 Oct 2026. Sources: sports press (L'Équipe, Le Parisien, Foot Mercato, regional press…) and official club websites — see the link on each item.
Editorial content (playing style, mood, absences, external prediction sources) last verified on 3 Sep 2026. The standings/form data above are refreshed automatically — as is the 1/X/2 estimate, recomputed on every view.