Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez (L). (Photo : Getty Images)
Lowly squad Malaga CF (3-7-5, 14 points) will host top contender Atletico Madrid (11-2-2, 35 points) at the La Rosaleda Stadium on December 20th, Sunday for a 2015-2016 La Liga season game.
Malaga is slowly rising from the bottom of the league table as it avoided losing three consecutive games as of the moment.
Los Boquerones pulled off a 2-1 victory over Rayo Vallecano last Sunday at the Campo de Futbol de Vallecas to move up to 16th place in the overall standings and out of the relegation bottom three, as reported by SkySports.
Rayo Vallecano actually drew first blood in the match with a goal from forward Javi Guerra during the opening minutes.
However, two goals in the second half propelled the Albicelestes to the win with scores from Brazilian striker Charles and Croatian forward Duje Cop at the 59th and 87th minutes respectively.
Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid pulled at par with league leader Barcelona at the top of the standings after a 2-1 win against Athletic Bilbao also last Sunday at the Vicente Calderón Stadium, via SkySports.
Similar to Malaga's win, Los Leones scored the opening goal before Atleti battled back with two straight to snatch the victory.
Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte scored at the 27th before Los Colchoneros midfielder Saul Niguez levelled it right before halftime. Forward Antoine Griezmann netted the winner at the 67th minute to give the three points to Diego Simeone's squad and current joint leadership with Barça.
The prediction is Atletico Madrid over Malaga, 3-1.
Malaga starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Kameni; Rosales, Albentosa, Weligton, Torres; Filipenko, Fornals; Duda, Amrabat, Carlos; Cop
Atletico Madrid starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Oblak; Juanfran, Gimenez, Godin, Luis; Niguez, Fernandez, Koke, Carrasco; Vietto, Griezmann
