Malaga and Eibar played out a lacklustre goalless draw on Sunday evening, with little in the way of opportunities arising for either side.
The hosts, who were searching for their first goal and win of the season, dominated proceedings, despite their opponents boasting a 100 per cent record in La Liga so far this campaign, but were unable to make their possession count as they created few chances throughout.
Both teams saw small sights of goal in the first half, albeit nothing too clear cut, bar Charles' well-saved effort on the stroke of the interval.
Opportunities were even more scarce in the second period, but two big ones did occur right at the death, one for each team, yet neither were able to apply the finish that would have earned them all three points as the game came to an end with the score 0-0.
Team news
Following a narrow 1-0 defeat to Barcelona last time out, Malaga made three changes to their team.
Weligton, who was subbed off after 25 minutes at the Camp Nou due to injury, made way for Raul Albentosa, who replaced him in that change last week, whilst Miguel Torres was also taken out of the defence for Arthur Boka. The third and final change in personnel saw Duje Cop replaced by Charles up front.
Eibar, on the other hand, named the same starting XI as that which beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 last week, again lining up as a 4-2-3-1.
Tight opening stages as the momentum is juggled between both sides
A slow and stuttered start to proceedings saw Malaga come closest to any real sort of opening with seven minutes gone, Nordin Amrabat trying to find Juan Carlos' run in behind, only for Eibar goalkeeper Asier Riesgo to gather the through ball after a good burst of pace off of his line.
Somewhat surprisingly, from here, it was the home side who started to really grow into the game, dominating as they continued the search for their first win of the season, having opened the campaign with a goalless draw against Sevilla, whilst Eibar have won both of their fixtures so far.
Malaga were clearly keen to break their goal-scoring duck too, yet to net in 2015-16 in the league, with them looking to open the scoring in the match as early as possible to get off to a good start as they applied pressure to the away goal. Yet, other than Charles' strike into the side-netting from an angle, they struggled for any attempts or chances.
Eibar will have been happy early on with the way they limited their dominant opponents to very few sights of goal whilst they looked for some inspiration themselves going forward, a half chance coming at the other end in the 15th minute with Gonzalo Escalante scuffing his volley wide of the target following a corner.
The visitors then carved out the best opportunity of the game so far - Saul Berjon beating Roberto Rosales on the left with a mix of pace and determination, before drilling the ball across the face of goal where Marcos Angeleri was able to get a touch to clear and divert the ball away from Keko, who was trying to put it in the back of the net.
Malaga then went down the other end and a deep cross fell at the feet of Amrabat, who evaded the challenges of two defenders before tamely striking straight at Riesgo. The former Galatasaray man continued to pose problems early on, constantly finding himself in the right areas when his side got up the pitch, but he was unable to really test the 'keeper in the first half.
Glaring chance for Malaga not taken as the scores remain goalless at the break
Chances came thicker in the final 15 minutes of the first half, with Amrabat trying to create this time as he fired a low cross into the box, only for Eibar to deal with the danger effectively.
Ricardo Horta was beginning to have more of an influence on the game too as it progressed, and he, and Amrabat, looked to be in just after the half hour mark having beaten the offside trap, yet, as they raced away from the sleeping Eibar defence, the linesman incorrectly raised his flag for offside, replays showing that both were at least a couple of yards on.
The frustration with the decision would have grown ten fold had Adrian, a man full of confidence following two goals in his opening two games, found the back of the net moments later for the visitors, but his overhead kick from Keko's chipped delivery was just too high to concern Malaga stopper Carlos Kameni.
The first clear cut chance came on the stroke of half time though, Amrabat again involved as he swept in a delightful cross for his strike partner Charles, but the Brazilian saw his effort marvellously stopped by Riesgo, who showed great reflexes to thwart Malaga's number nine after again being quick out of his goal.
This was the final action of the half, with Malaga ending it strongly as they edged the opening 45 minutes, despite Eibar growing into the game.
The hosts may have been on the ball more, but they also looked to have more weaknesses at the back, with the visitors seeing great joy on the left flank, as well as when driving through the middle, where little pressure was being applied. If they could see more of the possession in the second period, then Eibar could certainly punish Malaga, with players in form sure to make the most of any space they were to be given in the final third.
However, the away side needed to first find a way to keep Amrabat quiet, who had been extremely lively from the off and looked to be their opponents' most likely source of a goal.
Malaga dominate after break, but lack of composure overshadows creativity
Eibar did exactly this after the break, starting well and putting some dangerous looking crosses into the Malaga box. However, it was their opponents who came closest to scoring, Amrabat again involved as he delivered a difficult ball into the area that defender Mauro dos Santos inadvertently sent spinning towards his own goal, but for the wonderful reflexes of his 'keeper to get him out of trouble.
Amrabat himself then nearly broke the deadlock moments later, however, the angle quickly turned against him as Ivan Ramis closed him down, and thus he could only find the grateful arms of Riesgo as Malaga continued to boast the more potent attack.
Buoyed by this creativity, the hosts then took control of proceedings once again, Charles the next to waste a good opportunity as substitute Duda found him in plenty of space in the box, but he lashed his volley well over the bar despite having taken a good first touch to set it up perfectly.
Neither team can take last gasp chances as game ends goalless
Just as the hosts started to pick up some momentum in the match, a period consisting of several substitutes disrupted this, with few chances arising as the amount of cards shown began to grow instead in a very scruffy spell.
None of the changes had their manager's desired impact, only contributing more to a very slow final 20 minutes - especially the final sub of the game, which saw the hosts remove their liveliest performer, Amrabat, for Adnane Tighadouini, another livewire himself, albeit one who needed more than just seven minutes to grow into the game.
Yet, Borja Baston, introduced by Eibar with nine minutes to go, should have given his side all three points in the 87th minute, a deep cross to the back post headed back across goal for the substitute to finish from a few yards out, but he, disappointingly, could only stab the ball wide of the post.
Duje Cop, another substitute, came even closer at the other end when he tried to divert Fernando Tissone's off-target effort into the back of the net in the final minute of the 90, but he too lacked accuracy from close range as the ball trickled just wide of Riesgo's left hand post.
The game eventually came to an end with the score reading 0-0, neither side having done enough to change this as they instead shared the spoils.