Malaga 3 - 1 Levante: Levante forced to Cop for relegation after Malaga defeat

Posted Tuesday, May 03, 2016 by PA

Late goals from Duje Cop and Gonzalo Castro broke Levante's hearts and confirmed their relegation from the Primera Division as Malaga won 3-1 at La Rosaleda.

Levante, bottom of the table and six points from safety, knew defeat would see them return to the Segunda and things looked grim when Cop put the hosts ahead. However, Jose Luis Morales' quick reply gave them hope.

Rubi's side controversially had a goal ruled out for offside midway through the second half which would have seen them take the lead and they never recovered from that disappointment, conceding a second goal to Cop before Castro's first for the club sealed Levante's fate.

Castro was brought into the Malaga team and he started brightly, forcing Diego Marino to help his shot over the crossbar after only three minutes.

Marino was busy again as he had to keep out headers from Charles and Cop before a mistake by the goalkeeper saw the former denied by a goal-line clearance from Carl Medjani.

Levante thought they had the lead just before the half-hour mark when Francisco Ochoa blocked Giuseppe Rossi's shot and Mauricio Cuero tucked away the rebound, only to be denied by an offside flag.

Malaga made the most of that let off and went in front after 31 minutes when Cop clinically prodded home a Castro cross from inside the penalty area.

Ochoa denied Rossi again, keeping out a thunderous volley, but there was little he could do to stop Levante's equalsier as Morales latched on to Jose Mari's perfectly weighted through ball before scoring with a low shot.

The game's controversial moment came after 74 minutes. A pass in direction of Cuero and Rossi, who was offside, was collected by the former and he crossed for substitute Deyverson whose shot was saved by Ochoa before Morales tucked away the rebound.

But once again the referee's assistant had his flag raised. Television replays suggested it was the wrong decision.

Charles really should have put Malaga ahead immediately at the other end before Cop did in the 89th minute, converting the rebound after Sergio Duda's header hit a post.

Levante pushed men forward desperately in search of an equaliser to save themselves but they were caught out again in stoppage time when Castro crashed home a sweet left-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area.