The UEFA Champions League is a competition that, despite existing to crown the absolute best team in Europe, is no stranger to deep runs from underdog sides – some of which being clubs that cannot even call themselves the best of their own country, let alone the continent. Just last season, Villarreal, who qualified for the competition as Spain’s fourth-best team, upset German and Italian giants Bayern Munich and Juventus to reach the best four of Europe’s elite competition. 150 minutes into their semifinal tie against Liverpool, Villarreal were level on aggregate with the Merseyside outfit and dreamed of scoring a winner to book themselves a ticket to the final – it was only in the last 30 minutes that their dream was crushed and their Cinderella story was brought to an end.
Villarreal were not however the first underdog LaLiga club to make waves in the Champions League. Rewind to the 2012/13 season, where another side that took on Europe under the status of Spain’s fourth best team faced Borussia Dortmund in the quarterfinals of the competition. The first leg in Spain ended 0-0, and at the 90-minute mark of the second leg in Germany, the scoreboard read 1-2 in favour of the Spaniards. With the away goal rule in place, even a stoppage-time equalizer from Dortmund would have not been enough to stop the Andalusians from reaching the semifinals. In a historic Champions League comeback though, Jürgen Klopp’s side scored not one, but two stoppage-time goals to bring Málaga’s dream run in the competition to a heartbreaking halt.
So close were Málaga to victory that you can find live reports with a premature update that says, “Málaga have advanced to the semifinals”. Surely then, you would imagine that this would not be the last you would see of a team that did so well in the Champions League. However, 2012/13 remains Málaga’s one and only Champions League appearance. They qualified for the 2013/14 Europa League, but they were banned from playing in it. Today, they do not even play in LaLiga anymore. In fact, it has now been four years since their relegation to the second division in 2018, and they are yet to have found the strength to return to the top flight. This must beg the question: what went wrong?
The Takeover
In the summer of 2010, Málaga were looking for solutions to their economic problems, and they turned to Qatar for help. After negotiating with investors, a deal was struck with sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani. The Qatari became the owner of the club following the agreement, and the next month, Málaga’s board members elected Al-Thani to the position of president. Al-Thani appointed now-Elche director Moayad Shatat as vice-president and general manager of the club, and Shatat had reign of the Málaga project.
Shatat began the project by hiring Manuel Pellegrini as the team’s new head coach. The Chilean was José Mourinho’s predecessor at Real Madrid and accepted the opportunity to remain in LaLiga following his dismissal from Los Blancos. With a prolific manager at the helm, Málaga then began to bolster their squad with strong signings. In the summer of 2011, the club spent over €50m on signings, which was quite a hefty transfer budget for that time.
In defence, veteran Argentine centreback Martín Demichelis was brought in from Bayern Munich to lead the backline. Along with him came Nacho Monreal, a young leftback whose performances with Osasuna earned him a spot in Spain’s national team. Málaga then broke their transfer record to sign Lyon’s defensive midfielder Jérémy Toulalan, a regular for the French national team.
The transfer record however was broken again very soon to sign ace Villarreal playmaker Santi Cazorla, one of Spanish football’s star midfielders who was undoubtfully going to be the offensive focal point of this new Málaga XI. To accompany him, another Spanish star was recruited from Villarreal’s rivals Valencia as Malaga managed to get their hands on dynamic winger Joaquín. Also from Valencia came Isco, a talented young midfielder with much promise. To put the cherry on top, Málaga secured the signing of legendary Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, a player who had a lot to offer despite his age.
The Rise
In the last two LaLiga seasons, three of the four Champions League spots were occupied by Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, and that trio once again made up the top 3 in 2011/12. However, the two teams that fought for the fourth place spot in the previous seasons each found themselves having a poor year: Sevilla fell to midtable, and Villarreal, struggling to manage the addition of Champions League football to their schedule and thus suffering a freak amount of injuries, got relegated. Atlético Madrid, experiencing a revival under new manager Diego Simeone, made a push for the vacant fourth position, but ultimately fell two points short of Pellegrini’s Málaga, as the Andalucian side experienced European qualification for the first time since 2002.
Málaga were one of the highest scoring teams in the league, largely thanks to Cazorla, Isco, and Joaquín playing key roles in the flow of the attack. Pellegrini used this creative trio as his main offensive weapons, relying on their technical passes for slow but careful build-up play that proved highly effective in maintaining possession and efficiently creating chances. The team’s goalscoring distribution was also well-spread, as the combined tally of 16 goals netted by the striker partnership of Salomon Rondon and van Nistelrooy was matched by the combined tally of the Cazorla-Isco-Joaquín attacking midfield trio.
However, the club experienced some key departures ahead of the 2012/13 season that was to mark their Champions League debut. The attack in particular took a hit as top scorer Rondon was bought by Russian club Rubin Kazan, and star striker van Nistelrooy announced his retirement from football. Meanwhile, ace playmaker Cazorla earned a move to Premier League giants Arsenal, with Monreal later joining him there in the winter transfer window.
The team did bring in some reinforcements following those moves, as Uruguayan national team captain Diego Lugano arrived from Paris Saint-Germain to partner up with Demichelis at the back. To replace Rondon and van Nistelrooy, former Real Madrid and Barcelona forward Javier Saviola was purchased from Benfica, and Paraguayan striker Roque Santa Cruz came on loan from Manchester City. No one was bought to replace Cazorla – however, there was a player already in the squad who had grown alongside him and was capable of filling his role: the young Isco was ready to take over from Cazorla as Málaga’s ace.
The Champions League
The Champions League draw saw Málaga put into a group with Belgian champions Anderlecht, Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg, and 7-time winners AC Milan. It was seen as a tough task for Spain’s fourth best team to make it through this group. Not only did they advance to the round of 16 though, they topped the group and went undefeated by recording a win and a draw against each team. The Portuguese champions Porto were their first challenge in the knockout stages, and in a tight two-legged encounter, the Andalucians prevailed. After that came the iconic quarterfinal clash against the eventual runners-up of the competition, Borussia Dortmund, who forced Málaga to be satisfied with a best 8 finish.
The key tactical change from the previous season was that Pellegrini decided to leave behind the slow build-up play and priority of possession with Cazorla’s departure and shifted to an emphasis on pace in build-up play as well as more usage of counterattacking with Isco as the new offensive focal point. The summer signings proved quite successful, as Lugano solidified the team’s backline alongside Demichelis. Santa Cruz and Saviola also combined for 22 goals to prove that they were in fact an upgrade from the Rondon-van Nistelrooy pair, with Isco and Joaquín stepping up their contribution as well in Cazorla’s absence to combine for 21 goals.
Isco in particular had a magnificent season, netting 12 goals along with 6 assists, and was given the Golden Boy award as the world’s best young player for that year. The team as a whole however, despite a historic Champions League run, saw a slight drop in their level domestically, as they finished sixth in the league and failed to secure a second consecutive Champions League qualification. Though this did not end up mattering, as despite the fact that they had qualified for the Europa League, they were banned from participating in it.
UEFA handed Málaga a ban from European competitions due to their failure to meet the deadline to pay players their wages, as well as tax bills. In other words, the club had entered into debt. They could not grow any further until enough funds were recovered to pay their players and taxes. Thus, in the summer of 2013, it was time for the stars to go.
The Fall
Pellegrini had already confirmed his departure ahead of the summer, as he was approached to become the next manager of Manchester City. Demichelis signed for Atlético Madrid on a free transfer, but due to legal issues he ended up leaving the club within the same transfer window and joined Pellegrini’s new team in England. Toulalan and Joaquín were sold for a combined mere €7m as they were purchased by Monaco and Fiorentina respectively. Isco was the only one who the club were able to salvage a satisfactory fee from, as Real Madrid purchased the Golden Boy for €24m.
In the subsequent seasons, Málaga’s final position in the league table consistently declined until they finally faced relegation at the end of the 2017/18 season. Today, they continue to struggle as they fight with the outside chance of them getting promoted back to the top flight. Their financial situation remains bleak, but Abdullah Al-Thani has not given up his ownership or presidency of the club.
In early 2020, a regional court temporarily removed Al-Thani as president, with official accounts showing that he and his family owed the club €7.3m in loans and credit lines. Earlier this year though, it was announced that there was not enough evidence to justify a criminal case, and Al-Thani still holds the position. In the summer of 2020, an administrator appointed by the court announced that the club would lay off the entire first team squad to avoid being forced into relegation to the third division.
As long as Málaga remain in the second division, a return to LaLiga remains possible. It wouldn’t be the team’s first Cinderella story. Nonetheless, the controversy suffered from this Middle Eastern takeover gone wrong is an unsightly outcome for a team that made waves in the Champions League less than a decade ago.
Canada’s biggest Madridista, diehard Real Madrid fan since the age of 7. Also a fan of La Liga in general, and increasingly getting interested in Japanese football.