The Spanish second-division side have just 11 available players for Saturday’s meeting with the first-placed Cadiz

Malaga have made an official request to the Spanish Segunda Division to have their upcoming match against Cadiz rescheduled due to a lack of available players.

Remarkably, Los Albicelestes are without 13 first-team players, with six – Lorenzo Gonzalez, Munir, Mikel Villanueva, Juanpi Añor, Keidi Bare and Ramon Enriquez – all currently on international duty.

A further six – Cifu, Diego Gonzalez, Renato Santos, Luis Hernandez, Luis Munoz and Badr Boulahroud – are injured, while Adrian Gonzalez is ruled out through suspension.

As a result, it means Malaga have just 11 senior players available for this weekend’s game at La Rosaleda.

However, despite the huge number of players missing in their squad, the club are said to be pessimistic about their chances of getting the game suspended, with rules stating games will not be moved to another date because of players being injured, ill, suspended or on international duty.

On the other hand, the league will consider postponing a match if a club cannot field 11 players due to unforeseen circumstances.

Regardless, Cadiz chairman Manuel Vizcaino had little sympathy for Malaga and stated: “The rules are the same for everyone. 

“Last year we played a promotion clash and we were without Darwin Machis and Manu Vallejo. I want the law to be fulfilled as Cadiz was complied with.”

The Segunda Division are expected to respond to Malaga’s request in the coming days.

It has been a tough start to the 2019-20 campaign for Victor Sanchez’s men, who have won just once in the opening 10 league games. As a result, Malaga currently occupy one of the four relegation zones in the division.

The Andalusia club had established themselves as one of the more recognisable sides in the Spanish top division in the past 20 years.

In fact, only eight seasons ago Malaga finished fourth in La Liga and were minutes away from making it to the Champions League semi-final the following campaign under the guidance of Manuel Pellegrini.

During that era, the club also had well-known stars such as Ruud van Nistelrooy, Jeremy Toulalan, Santi Cazorla and Isco.

However, the club suffered a downturn in fortune in the second half of the 2010s which culminated with Malaga’s relegation to the second division in 2018.

Source:- Goal