Real Betis 1 - 0 Malaga: Joaquin goal sees Betis bounce back from derby defeat

Posted Saturday, September 24, 2016 by PA

Joaquin's first-half header gave Real Betis a first home win of the season as they overcame Malaga 1-0 at the Estadio Benito Villamarin.

The hosts bounced back from their 1-0 loss to arch rivals Sevilla on Tuesday as Joaquin's second goal of the season in the 25th minute saw them move up to eighth in the LaLiga table ahead of the remaining weekend matches.

The defeat was a third of the season in the league for struggling Malaga and ended any momentum they had hoped to gain from their win over Eibar three days ago.

Betis started well and Petros narrowly missed the top corner with an effort from outside the area before German Pezzella guided a header wide from a Joaquin corner.

The 35-year-old showed his team-mate how it was done shortly afterwards, nodding Charly Musonda's cross into the roof of the net.

Malaga almost hit back just after the half-hour mark when Federico Ricca struck a post with a header and early in the second half Youssef En-Nesyri saw a decent effort from outside the area saved by goalkeeper Antonio Adan.

The visitors continued to push for the equalising goal, but they could not make the breakthrough as first Diego Llorente and then Ignacio Camacho, who was a transfer target for West Brom during the summer transfer window, also saw headers saved by Adan.