LaLiga: From the Champions League semi-finals to relegation in five years, how Malaga's dream turned into a nightmare

Cast your mind back to April 2013, almost five years ago now, and to the Champions League quarter-finals. The new side on the block in Spain, Malaga, were heading to the semi-finals of Europe’s premier cup competition.

Managed by an impressive Manuel Pellegrini they found themselves 2-1 up against Borussia Dortmund heading into the 90th minute at the Westfalenstadion. Malaga were in dreamland – and so were their fans.

Then the unthinkable happened.

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Dortmund needed two goals in injury time to go through after a goalless draw in the first leg. Marco Reus popped up in the 91th minute to give the home side hope. Malaga only needed to see out the final couple of minutes and they’d still advance. Football can be cruel though and two clear offsides were missed, one in the build up and one by the eventual goalscorer Felipe Santana, and Malaga’s dream soon turned into a nightmare. They were out in the cruellest of fashions.

This brush with football’s elite came only two years after Abdullah Al-Thani bought the club. This was supposed to be the foundations Malaga were built on. At their disposal was a squad mixed with quality youngsters as well as experienced talent. The perfect blend. Yet the first real disappointment wasn’t dealt with in a manner you’d expect to see from a serious owner.

Al-Thani’s bizarre claims of ‘racism’ after Dortmund defeat

Al-Thani believes that Malaga’s exit to Dortmund was because of racism. It was an accusation he repeated but never actually explained, nor was it a view shared by anyone else at the club. Other theories, such as UEFA not wanting a ‘banned’ club reaching the semi-finals had a little more basis to them, but racism? It was like a child kicking and screaming on the floor of Toys R Us after his parents said he couldn’t have a LEGO set.

Maybe that was the main thing to take away from the disappointment Malaga felt that night. Not the progression, or potential in the squad, but how immature Al-Thani can be when things don’t go his way. After all, he had already stopped dipping into his own pocket to pay for the club’s lofty ambitions. The players on the pitch during the fateful night in Germany hadn’t been paid. They were doing it for themselves, the fans, but probably not for the guy who wasn’t paying them.

No funds, no Europe

That was the top of the mountain for Malaga under Al-Thani. The following summer they were banned from entering UEFA competitions due to their outstanding debt with the tax office, other clubs and failure to pay their employees. After an appeal to TAS was unsuccessful the club began to strip itself of any valuable assets in order to prevent more money needing to be invested by the erratic owner.

Martin Demichelis and Julio Baptista left on free transfers. Joaquin, Jeremy Toulalan and Isco were all sold too. Malaga spent a little over €5m in replacing them. Al-Thani’s spending spree was over. The club would need to survive on its own and not solely because of his money. The progression, the belief was all gone. And to this date there’s no reason as to why there was a sudden change in strategy.

That steady slide into mediocrity continues to the present day. Without a clear direction as to where the club is heading, it comes as no surprise to see them rooted to the bottom of LaLiga. Like a house bought by an ambitious property developer but then abandoned after a few weeks of building work, it’s a shell of what it could be. The owner refuses to sell and this now rundown building is in a similar state to when he first bought it.

Al-Thani’s cost-cutting measures simply haven’t worked. Players are always going to choose a Real Madrid or Barcelona over Malaga, but to be less desirable than anyone else in Spain is some feat. What is Malaga’s strategy and why would you join them? There’s no ambition to challenge the top 10, no desire to produce an academy to farm future players. There’s nothing. It’s a club without a soul and no one seems to care.

Malaga were sold a dream but delivered a nightmare

This is in stark contrast to the way Al-Thani spoke of Malaha back in 2010 when he officially took over. He sounded ambitious with plans to build a 65,000-seater stadium and name it the ‘Qatar Stadium’. There was talk of €75m being available to spend and the following season it’d be increased to €100m. He wanted to build a new sports centre with 10 football pitches with a focus on creating an enviable academy for the region’s youngsters. A five-star hotel, children’s play areas. He was going to transform Malaga.

The key word unfortunately being ‘was’.

And if Al-Thani’s didn’t want to go through with this initial idea, that’s fine. Lots of people invest in football clubs and think it’s easy to close the gap to the top sides only to discover it requires a lot more money. But if you don’t want to invest any more, or can’t fulfil your initial ideas, why not sell up? Al-Thani himself admits there have been various propositions from potential owners, all of which he’s said no to.

The owner’s reasoning behind everything he does is painfully vague. “In the past there were problems but I don’t want to mention names.” When asked about those interested parties he is equally as private. “I don’t want to give names.” His defence to his handling of the club is pushing the blame on other, also unnamed, people. “The reports I received, and I don’t want to say names, didn’t tell the truth. They lied to me.”

Minimal effort equals minimal results

This veil of secrecy only further upsets the fan base as they see their side prepare for life in Spain’s second division. You can’t find a single reason to suggest they will string together a fantastic set of results and perform a great escape. The whole management of the club – from Al-Thani through to the coach – has been lackadaisical to say the least, bordering on ignorant.

At the start of the season after selling Sandro Ramirez to Everton for €6m, Pablo Fornals to Villarreal for €12m and Ignacio Camacho to Wolfsburg for €10m they invested just over €10m back into the club. Instead of long-term replacements, there were many temporary solutions. Good players, don’t get me wrong, but hardly ones which care if Malaga push for honours or not. Granada are a fine example of too many loan deals forfeiting a club’s identity. They too were relegated.

In terms of investment, the biggest deal was bringing Emauel Cecchini in for just under €5m. He’s since been loaned out Club Leon in the Mexican league. Esteban Rolon, who cost around €3m, hasn’t played a single minute in the league since the 19th November. Diego Gonzalez, the last €1m+ signing of the season, has missed eight of the last eleven matches. None of those three appear likely to stay beyond the summer either.

Social media fallouts, sackings and poor recruitment

And it isn’t just the players which are below par. Michel’s start to the season was disastrous. He lost eight of the opening nine matches, drawing once. The warning signs were there for all to see. And I mean that literally as Al-Thani took to Twitter to tell his coach not to question the director of football’s signings. People thought Dream Team finished in 2007 – but not in Malaga.

Michel amazingly kept his job until the middle of January. By the time the announcement was made, Malaga had lost 14 of their opening 19 fixtures. Jose Gonzalez was the man chosen to replace Michel but unsurprisingly, given the current status of the club, not a great deal has changed. He’s winless after ten games and has lost seven of those. Now what?

Despite Al-Thani siding with Francesc Arnau in his war of words with then-coach Michel, it was Arnau who was replaced first. Mario Husillos, someone the Sheikh has already sacked once during his time at Malaga, was re-appointed to take over. There seems to be very little logic or reasoning behind any decision the club makes at the moment but this only adds to the weight dragging Malaga downwards.

Social media is also where Al-Thani insulted the Catalan region. He later attempted to say his comments were about the press, not the region itself, but he was still fined €3,500.

Football doesn’t allow you to catch your breath

Standing still is Malaga’s biggest crime. In football the reality is you need to invest in order to reap the rewards. The one time Malaga did this they made it into the Champions League. When the money was cut off, the club quickly began to implode and it continues to do so.

Al-Thani is standing by as Malaga goes up in flames. His lack of reaction is either down to him not caring or him being powerless to stop it. But why would he suddenly be unable to fund a relatively modest football club?

Is more financial woe incoming for Malaga?

Due to the radio silence coming from the owner and his family it only creates more speculation. His company, Nas Marbella, won a lucrative contract to expand the famous resort’s port. This was in 2011 but no work took place due to legalities holding up the project. Late in 2017 this court ruled against the company due to its failure to adhere to relevant prerequisites. This means that Al-Thani’s €400m project is over before it started. Did the time and money spent on this deal eat into his desire to transform Malaga?

Another potential crisis on the horizon for Malaga – and most noteably Al-Thani – is the ‘BlueBay case’. This stems back to when the hotel company helped steady the club’s finances in 2013. The hotel company is now seeking 49% of Al-Thani’s shares in Malaga FC and the court case continues. Once again, instability is the last thing the fans want to see more of.

Malaga are back where they started, but is Al-Thani ready to take them forward?

In closing it’d be unfair to dismiss the good Al-Thani has brought the club. Without him the debts surrounding the club could’ve seen them relegated and placed under serious sanctions, maybe even to the point of going bust. With his help the debts were removed and the club enjoyed some fantastic moments in the Champions League, coming within seconds of making the semi-finals. If there was no Al-Thani, those moments wouldn’t have been possible.

However it feels like Al-Thani is doing more harm than good these days. The fears which encapsulated the club when he first took over and slowly becoming a reality with him at the head of the ship. Relegation is a foregone conclusion and there’s little faith the current coach and director of football can turn it around next season. Expect another fire sale in the summer but who do you bring in? What attracts you to Malaga over the other clubs in the division?

The owner said two years ago he wanted to be more prominent in Malaga. His plan was to take a more active role and show the fans how much he cared about the club. The only thing he’s done with his appearances is add greater embarrassment to the club’s image as well as the fans.

Another social media rant about the police not letting him into the stadium, despite arriving late and the road being closed, didn’t help matters.

Last chance saloon

Sometimes you can love something too much to the point you’re blind to the damage you’re causing. I’ve no doubt Al-Thani took over Malaga with good intentions but if you aren’t willing to make the necessary changes, maybe it’s you that needs replacing. Malaga are in freefall due to extremely poor mismanagement.

Their fans deserve better, they deserve a team they can be proud of. Unfortunately the current version only deserves relegation. Is Al-Thani ready to rebuild Malaga or will he continue to dance on the rumble?