Roque Santa Cruz has pinpointed Iker Muniain as the man to watch when his Malaga team take on Athletic Bilbao at home on Monday.
The Basques are fifth in La Liga with the Costa del Sol outfit desperate for points to climb up the table, and Santa Cruz has outlined the significance of the match.
“It’s an important game for us and we are all looking forward to it. We’ve had plenty of time to put things right since our last fixture and we want all three points,” the Paraguayan told assembled reporters.
“For me, Aritz Aduriz is their most dangerous player because of his ability to score. He is a very good player, a leader, and his loss through injury is important.
“But I like Muniain a lot. He is different, a young player who brings different things to the team, and I like to watch him.”
Santa Cruz admits the Malaga players have analysed the disappointing 3-1 defeat at Granada in their last game before the international break.
“We’ve watched the Granada game again. We’ve sat down, discussed everything, and saw we had some good moments.
“However, there were specific times when we made mistakes and we know that, yet we can’t afford to make such errors in a League like this.
“As a result, more than anything, we are fine-tuning things and trying to make sure they don’t happen again,” he explained, while conceding the Malaga players prefer a 4-1-4-1 system to a 4-4-2.
“The team has shown that it feels more comfortable playing with one up front. Other than that, we can still play with two strikers if the occasion demands it.”
