There’s a mini revolution going on in Spain and it’s not at Barcelona or Real Madrid. Qatar based Sheikh Al Thani’s buyout and investment in players saw the Costa Del Sol outfit finish in 11th – hardly earth-shattering but a big improvement on the previous year’s 17th under the stewardship of ex Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini. The manager was able to bring in some eye-catching players in last January’s transfer window, including Sergio Asenjo, Martin Demichelis, Enzo Maresca and Julio Baptista – the latter responding with nine goals in 11 matches as Malaga moved smoothly up the table from the start of February. And the cash has been splashed again in the summer, with Al Thani’s millions resulting in the arrival of Santi Cazorla, Ruud Van Nistelroy, Joaquin, Nacho Monreal, Sergio Sanchez, Isco, Jeremy Toulalan, Diego Buonanotte and Joris Mathijsen. It’s resulted in the club being backed into joint favouritism to finish top of the league without the ‘big two’. If the money is right they will have too much class for Grenada , who were the third team promoted from the Spanish second division last season, 15 points behind the champions.
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