Malaga 2 : 0 Espanyol - Rondon double lifts Malaga

Posted Sunday, March 20, 2011 by PA

Salomon Rondon hit both goals as Malaga boosted their chances of Primera Division survival with a precious 2-0 win at home to Espanyol.

The Venezuela striker scored twice in the first 25 minutes to give the Andalusians only their fourth home win in the league this season.

It was also a second successive win for Manuel Pellegrini's side, who had beaten Real Sociedad by the same scoreline at Anoeta last weekend.

Malaga began the day on the bottom of the table with 26 points, the same total as the two teams directly above them - Almeria and Hercules.

But both of those two lost and Malaga were also able to make up ground on 17th-placed Zaragoza, who went down 1-0 at Mallorca on Saturday.

In truth, Espanyol proved to be the ideal rival for Pellegrini's side.

The Barcelona-based outfit have been poor of late and had lost six of their last eight games prior to this encounter.

And Rondon made sure that statistic became seven out of nine as he put the visitors to the sword in the first half.

The South American striker took advantage of a woeful clearance by Jordi Amat to volley home after just seven minutes, and then converted from close range midway through the first half to make it 2-0 after more poor defending from the visitors.

Espanyol improved after the interval and Dani Osvaldo made his comeback following two months on the sidelines, but the Argentina-born striker was unable to inspire the Catalans and Malaga were the deserved winners in the end.

And the Andalusians could have won by more, but for some heroics from Espanyol keeper Carlos Kameni at the end of both halves.

Malaga are now 18th, just a point behind 17th-placed Zaragoza, while Espanyol drop a place to sixth.