Malaga have started their La Liga campaign with a 1-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao this evening, despite finishing the match with nine men.
© Getty Images
Aritz Aduriz came close to scoring early on for the visitors, but, after being played through by Iker Muniain, he saw his effort saved by Carlos Kameni.
Bilbao worked another opening when Muniain tried his luck with a long-range strike that the keeper saved.
The hosts were then awarded a penalty when Gorka Iraizoz came rushing off his line and brought down Roque Santa Cruz inside the box.
Luis Alberto stepped up to take the spot kick and saw his first attempt saved by the keeper, before putting the rebound into the net.
After the break, Mikel Rico almost drew the visitors level when his header from Ibai Gomez's free kick went narrowly wide of the post.
With two minutes left to play, Malaga were reduced to 10 men when Duda was sent off for pushing Munian to the ground before head-butting Aymeric Laporte, and they were soon down to nine as Vitorino Antunes was dismissed for a straight red card.
In the fifth minute of stoppage time, Bilbao looked to have levelled the scores when goalkeeper Iraizoz headed in from a free kick, but the linesman had his flag raised and the hosts held on to claim the points.
Alex Meyers
