Alaves top Malaga in relegation duel

Munir El Haddadi's goal gave hosts Alaves a 1-0 victory here over Malaga in a battle between two clubs trying to climb out of the La Liga drop zone.

The win on Thursday left Alaves with 15 points from 17 matches, enough to move up to the 17th spot by virtue of a better goal difference than Deportivo, who have a game in hand, reports Efe.

Malaga, with 11 points, are 19th.

Thursday's contest in front of nearly 19,000 spectators at Vitoria's Mendizorroza stadium was more lopsided than the score would indicate.

Alaves spent most of the night on the attack and Munir got numerous chances before scoring at the hour mark, including a pair inside the first 15 minutes.

Munir hit the cross-bar in the 50th minute before finally converting with a header 10 minutes later.

Eibar clobbered visiting Girona 4-1 in Thursday's other match.

With the result, Eibar vaults into 7th place with 24 points from 17 matches, while newly promoted Girona sits 10th.

--IANS

sam/vm