Umar Sadiq and Arnau Puigmal led Almería to their fourth consecutive victory, in a close match against Fuenlabrada, which was resolved in the last third (3-1) and which provisionally places the rojiblancos at the top of the table .
Almería warned in a counterattack by Arnau Puigmal towards Ramazani, who ended up wasting the opportunity. The Belgian winger had another chance after the quarter hour, although he ran into Morro.
Almeria
31
Fuenlabrada
Almeria: Ferdinand; Buñuel (Dyego Sousa, min. 58), Carriço (Iván Martos, min. 33), Babic, Akieme; Eguaras, Samú Costa (Javi Robles, min. 84), Arnau Puigmal (Curro Sánchez, min. 84), Ramazani (Álex Pozo, min. 46), Portillo; and Sadiq
Fuenlabrada: Nose; Sotillo, Tachi, Rubén Pulido, Pol Valentín (David Amigo, min. 70); Konaté (Adrián González, min. 82), Cristóbal (Iribas, min. 60), Dieguez; Pedro León (Kanté, min. 82), Ontiveros and Bouldini
Referee: García Verdura, from the Catalan committee. Yellow card to Babic, Ramazani, Eguaras and Curro Sánchez for Almería and to Tachi and Ontiveros for Fuenlabrada
Goals: 1-0, min. 31: Arnau Puigmal; 1-1, min. 36: Bouldini; 2-1, min. 65: Sadiq; 3-1 min. 77: Dyego Sousa
Incidents: Match from matchday 29 of LaLiga SmartBank, played at the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos (Almería). 8,506 viewers
see game file
Fuenlabrada played Almería without complexes, frequently hovering around the local area, but it was Almería who managed to get ahead, half an hour into the game. Sadiq won the game on the wing against Rubén Pulido, entered the area and kicked the ball to the far post, where Arnau Puigmal was waiting with the cane. Ninth assist for the Nigerian and third goal for the Barcelona player so far this season.
[+] See the summary of the match
Of course, the goal came with a setback for Almería, with a new injury to Carriço, who returned after four months (he has barely played 140 minutes this season).
His replacement, Iván Martos, who came on as a right-footed central defender despite being left-footed, would be overtaken just moments later by Bouldini, who tied the game after a cross from Pedro León.
The final stretch of the first half was rare, with several interruptions, the most worrying after a blow by Morro to his teammate Tachi in a fortuitous play.
In a long discount, Sadiq had it twice, the second with a powerful right hand that Morro repelled. The Nigerian fell on the rebound, without the VAR intervening, and Akieme finished off wide.
Akieme also had the first opportunity of the second half, finishing off a cross from Sadiq’s left as ‘nine’.
Almería went on the attack with the entrance of Álex Pozo first and Dyego Sousa later. Both connected in the first play in which they coincided on the pitch and the Brazilian touched the goal.
The one who achieved it was the usual: Sadiq. He did it with a header, in a free kick taken by Arnau Puigmal, getting ahead of the entire defensive line, and scoring his fifth goal of the month and the thirteenth of the course. With suspense, too, since the VAR took longer than necessary to give it a validity that was quite clear.
Almería sentenced. Sadiq again appeared on the left, combining with Portillo first and putting the ball to the far post later. Arnau took it to the heart of the area and Dyego Sousa to the back of the net.