Malaga and Levante will do battle in the final eight of the Copa Del Rey tomorrow evening at the Estadio Ciudad de Valencia. Both sides are coming off of losses and are going to use this competition to gain confidence going back to league play this coming weekend. For the hosts, they lost 3-1 to Atletico Madrid as the visitors fell to the hands to Almeria by a final score of 1-2 at their home ground.
Malaga got to this round of the cup by trouncing Deportivo La Coruna, Celta’s rivals, 5-2 on aggregate with a 4-1 thumping at home, in a match where they scored all four goals in the second half. Meanwhile, the last round of the Copa Del Rey as they barely squeaked by second division outfit, Albacete, thanks to the away goal rule.
As things stand in the league, the visitors for this leg sit in the spot above the relegation zone and have found it hard to win lately. Unfortunately, Lucas Alcaraz knows that there is probably no hope in getting anything other than a mid-table finish at this point if they can string together a couple of good results in the league. The first thing to do, however, is get a good result against a Malaga side who is hopeful for a spot in a European competition.
After a shock defeat to Almeria this past weekend, Javi Garcia will be hoping that his squad can turn things around and get back to their winning ways as they push for a coveted European spot. Malaga currently sit in the seventh spot on the table and although they do have some tricky fixtures coming up in league play but if they can get a win or two Garcia’s squad will be beaming with confidence for the rest of the Copa.
Malaga probable starting XI: Kameni, Rosales, Weligton, Angeleri, Boka, Camacho, Sergi Darder, Samu Garcia, Duda, Samu Castillejo, Santa Cruz
Levante probable starting XI: Jesus Fernandez, Rodas, El Adoua, Juanfran, Pedro Lopez, Tono, Victor Perez, Camarasa, El Zhar, Gavilan, Barral