Villarreal were 1-0 down at La Rosaleda, and their first win of the season came at the sixth attempt
Carlos Dotor put Malaga ahead in the 12th minute. Alberto Moleiro and a Pape Gueye double turned it round, and Villarreal climbed out of the relegation zone at last.
Sep 18, 2026
Villarreal have a win. It took them until the middle of September and a trip to a ground they had not visited in the league since 2018, and they had to come from behind to get it, but the number in the W column at La Rosaleda on Thursday night is no longer a zero.
Pape Gueye scored twice and one of them mattered most
Carlos Dotor put Malaga in front in the 12th minute, finishing a move Juan Cruz had built. For half an hour that looked like it might hold. Then Alberto Moleiro levelled in the 40th, Pape Gueye put Villarreal ahead in first-half stoppage time, and a game Malaga had controlled turned over inside six minutes.
Gueye added the third from the penalty spot in the 86th to finish it off, which turned an anxious final quarter into a comfortable one. Villarreal had gone into the break ahead having spent the first half-hour chasing, and they did not give the lead back.
The 28,505 at La Rosaleda had watched their side take the lead against a team in the relegation zone and lose. That is a difficult evening to sit through.
Out of the bottom three at the sixth attempt
Villarreal arrived in Malaga 18th, on two points from five games, with two draws and three defeats behind them. They had also lost their European opener at Borussia Dortmund. For a club that finished third last season with 72 points and is back in the Champions League because of it, nothing about the first month had gone to plan.
Three points moves them to 14th on five, with 10 goals scored and 11 conceded. Nobody in Villarreal will call that a recovery. It is a foothold, and the gap between one win and no wins in September is bigger than five points make it look. Levante come to the Estadio de la Ceramica on Sunday, and Villarreal now have something to protect rather than something to chase.
Malaga are 19th and have scored three goals in six games
Malaga came up this summer after eight years away and have not won yet. Three draws, three defeats, three points, three goals scored in six matches. Eleven conceded. The problem is at the top end: three goals in six games would be a poor month for a single striker, let alone a squad.
Thursday was the kind of night that gets used as evidence either way. Malaga scored first, held a lead against opponents with a deeper squad, and then conceded three in 46 minutes of football. A promoted side can survive on that sort of performance if it turns into points. So far it has not.
Getafe away on Sunday is next, and last Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Celta remains the closest they have come to a result worth keeping. The last time these two clubs met in the league, in April 2018, Malaga won 1-0 in a season that ended with them bottom of the table on 20 points.