14'WHAT A SAVE! La Rosaleda is starting to rock after Malaga win their third corner, which is hooked in by Recio. It's headed clear, but only to Castro at the top of the box, and he lashes one for hte bottom corner. Bravo saw it late, but still reacted excellently to push it onto the post!
12'Barcelona are under a little bit of pressure at the moment, thanks to the pressing approach of the home team. Bravo was forced into a rushed clearance that coughed up a throw-in inside his own half.
10'Malaga are starting to put their foot down, and are enjoying a solid spell in possession. A cross comes in for Cop to head at the back post, but he plants it right down the throat of Bravo.
8'Malaga have a corner that is played towards the near post, there's a scramble, and the referee blows his whistle, giving the gome fans excitement that a penalty has been awarded, but the call goes the other way for a foul against Charles.
6'There's a decent glare working against Kameni and his back four, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out for the remainder of the half. No hope of blaming the first goal on that though.
4'Some lovely footwork from Iniesta sees him leave two defenders scratching their heads near the touchline, but he can't pick out a teammate to add some end product to the move. Barca starting confidently here.
2' Munir El Haddadi Mohamed
2'WHAT A START FOR BARCELONA! Suarez wriggles free behind his man towards the byline, turns to face goal and squares almost across the goal line, leaving the simplest of finishes for Munir!
1'Off we go!
A hamstring problem for Neymar has seen him miss out here, meaning that Munir will continue in the front three. Gerard Pique is suspended, so Thomas Vermaelen partners Javier Mascherano in defence. Lionel Messi ahd Luis Suarez also return to the XI after a hamstring scare and suspension respectively from Barca's midweek Copa del Rey action.
Arthur Boka is suspended, meaning that Miguel Torres starts at left back for the home side. Juanpi also enters the fray in place of Nordin Amrabat, while Marcos Angeleri replaces Raul Albentosa.
Barcelona subs: Ter Stegen, Rakitic, Alves, Bartra, Ramirez, Roberto, Mathieu.
Barcelona (4-3-3): Bravo; Vidal, Mascherano, Vermaelen, Adriano; Turan, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Suarez, Munir.
Malaga subs: Duda, Albentosa, Horta, Tissone, Ochoa, Santa Cruz, Fornals.
Malaga (4-4-2): Kameni; Rosales, Angeleri, Weligton, Torres; Juanpi, Recio, Camacho, Castro; Charles, Cop.
In their last 20 games against Barcelona, Malaga have lost 17 times, with their only victory coming at Camp Nou. The Andalusian side have won four of their last six at home - but Barcelona have also kept clean sheets in eight of their last 10 games. All stats point to a tight affair, but the Catalans tend to throw such predictions out the window.
Barcelona, meanwhile, are two points behind Diego Simeone's men, but have that all-important game in hand. Luis Enrique's men have been virtually flawless at home - winning 10 and drawing one of their first 11 games en route to scoring 38 goals, but on the road has been a different story. Four wins, two draws and two defeats tell the story of their travels, while they've only scored 12 times to the eight goals that they've conceded away from Camp Nou.
A 2-1 loss at Sevilla last time out ended a decent unbeaten run for Malaga which saw them put some distance between themselves and the relegation zone. They currently sit in 12th, but could move as high as ninth if things go their way this weekend. Crucially, they are tied with Atleti for the best home defensive record in the top flight, with only five goals conceded at La Rosaleda.
Hello and welcome to our live commentary of the Liga clash between Malaga and Barcelona at La Rosaleda. The hosts have a terrible recent record against the Catalan giants, but will be looking to put that aside as they push for the top half of the table. Meanwhile, the visitors are hot on the heels of leaders
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