0-1: Unfortunate result for Almeria!
Almería down on their luck in home game against Las Palmas. Countless interruptions, two players injured and a goal from Juan Muñoz disallowed that seemed to be legal
UD Almería suffered their first home defeat after the return to competition. It was indeed an unfortunate result for Almeria. Las Palmas managed to take the lead. Since then, the Rojiblancos controlled the ball possession, created big chances, and on top of that the referee disallowed a goal from Juan Muñoz that seemed to be legal. Kaptoum and Juan Ibiza came off the pitch after picking up injuries.
José María Gutiérrez made four changes in the lineup with respect to the starting eleven of the last game against Albacete. In this sense, the Rojiblanca squad stood out thanks to the presence of Francis, Juan Ibiza - who returned to action after recovering from long-term injury -, Kaptoum and Juan Muñoz.
It was a very balanced first half with the Almería’s players displaying a fast-paced game, especially with right-back Francis' brilliant breakaway. In fact, the striker Juan Muñoz managed to find the net, but his goal was unfortunately ruled out because Fran Villalba was previously offside.
The constant duels to win possession of the ball and control the midfield did not stop happening throughout the 90 minutes. On home turf, it was our contenders who enjoyed the most contact with the ball, trying to combine through flowing passes, although they could not actually enforce their presence in the opposing team’s field at times.
UD Las Palmas found their way to make it 0-1 after 22 minutes, when Benito Ramírez saw Rubén Castro was left unmarked and the striker beat Fernando scoring the winner from a cross. Regardless of being trailing before the break, José María Gutiérrez had to make the first substitution soon after to make matters worse, as a result of Kaptoum feeling some discomfort. Aguza came on for the Cameroonian midfielder.
From that moment on, the Rojiblancos fought back to make it to the islanders’ 18-yard-box searching for the equaliser. However, the connection between the midfield men and those up high the pitch was hampered by the superb defensive approach of the players from Gran Canaria. Then, after consulting the VAR, the man in black disallowed a goal from the striker Juan Muñoz for an alleged foul by Aguza at the start of the play.
In the face of so much adversity, and after ten minutes of the second-half, the Almería’s head coach opted for a formation change with a double substitution with Balliu and Jonathan Silva coming on for Francis and Fran Villalba. On the other hand, bad news expected once more as soon as Juan Ibiza put his hand on his knee and had to be replaced in the 67th minute.
Despite UD Almeria went all out to record a comeback in the last minutes by showing more ball possession and presence on the opposite field, the final whistle confirmed the Indalicos’ first home defeat after the season return.