Málaga 0 - Barcelona 0

Málaga: Contreras; Rojas, Larrainzar (Bravo 46'), Roteta, Valcarce; Rufete, Movilla, De los Santos, Zárate (Sandro 85'); Darío Silva, Canabal (Ismael 65'). 4-4-2.
Barcelona: Reina; Reiziger (Gabri 70'), Frank De Boer, Abelardo, Cocu; Guardiola, Gerard (Petit 73'); Simao, Rivaldo, Overmars; Kluivert. 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Málaga: Zárate for Agostinho / Barcelona: Overmars for Luis Enrique.

Goals: None.

Barcelona extended their unbeaten run to fifteen matches in all competitions, but missed out on an opportunity to move up to second place with a dull goal-less draw at the Rosaleda stadium. In the words of one wag who we quoted last season, it was a game of two halves Brian, both of them crap. The first half clearly belonged to the home side, although with Dely Valdés still out injured and Edgar not called up having played for Portugal midweek, Canabal and Darío Silva could not get through a Barcelona defence that has only let in one goal in their last five games. Referee Ansuategui Roca was in charge of a first division game for a record 200th time, and he was in a benevolent mood, pardoning Abelardo for a possible hand ball and letting off De los Santos early in the second half when he hacked down Rivaldo having already picked up a yellow card. He also waved away appeals for hands by Reina on two occasions when the young keeper stepped out of the area with the ball, and although he did probably drop it in time in the first half, he clearly was at fault the second time later in the match.

Serra Ferrer only made one change to the side who defeated Valencia last week, bringing back Overmars in place of the suspended Luis Enrique. Club captain Guardiola passed a late fitness test and eventually took his place in the side, with the versatile Cocu keeping his place at left back despite the return to fitness of Sergi after good performances by the Dutchman in his recent games. In the opening minutes Abelardo and De Boer kept out shots from Canabal and Darío Silva, and Reina saved from Movilla close to half time. After the break Barcelona started to take control, and Contreras saved from Gerard, Overmars, Rivaldo and Kluivert in quick succession. Peiró brought on the nippy Ismael for the more cumbersome Canabal, and Serra Ferrer took off the injured Reiziger and then Gerard, who had also taken a knock in the first half, bringing on Gabri and Petit.

In the last minute De Boer almost sneaked a victory with a quick free kick from inside the centre circle, and Contreras had to scurry back to push it over the bar as the ball was dropping in. It would have been rough justice as Málaga had done enough to earn a point, and a draw was a fair result. Barcelona stay in third place, a point behind Deportivo pending the results of Sunday's games, and in particular the fixture between Valencia and Real Madrid. They now have to change their chip, with an important Spanish cup tie next Tuesday against their city rivals Espanyol. Málaga's 25,000 crowd was the best of the season, and they went home happy with the point against their bigger rivals. Their team stay at the gates of Europe in the top half of the table, keeping their hopes of European football alive.