Málaga: Willy Caballero; Jesús
Gámez , Demichelis (Lugano 62'), Weligton, Antunes; Toulalan;
Joaquín (Iturra 65'), Piazon, Isco (Seba Fernández 72'),
Portillo; Santa Cruz. 4-1-4-1.
Atlético: Courtois;
Juanfran, Miranda, Godín, Filipe Luis; Koke, Mario Suárez; Arda
Turan, Diego Costa (Adrián 61'), Cristian Rodríguez (Raúl
García 66'); Falcao. 4-2-3-1.
Goals: None.
Yellow cards: Juanfran 16', Weligton 34', Mario Suárez 37', Diego Costa 57', Koke 80', Toulalan 85'.
Second placed Atlético Madrid closed the gap behind leaders Barcelona to eleven points after a 0-0 draw at Málaga on Sunday evening. With the best two defences in the league on the park, this was always scheduled to be a low scoring match. However keepers Caballero and Courtois had little work to do as both sets of strikers had an off day. Atlético did have the better of the first half, but Diego Costa, Turan, Godín and Cristian Rodríguez all failed to find the target. And the best chances for the locals came from defenders following dead ball kicks, Demichelis heading a corner just wide shortly before the break, and Weligton doing likewise from an Antunes free kick after the restart. Mario Suárez did finally test Caballero later on, but with other competitions on their minds, the two coaches finally settled for a point apiece.