Malaga suffered a fourth consecutive La Liga defeat as a last-minute Edgar Mendez strike earned 10-men Alaves victory at La Rosaleda.
Zouhair Feddal gave the Basques a first-half lead over a lacklustre Malaga, for whom Michel was overseeing his first game since replacing Marcelo Romero four days previously.
The ‘new manager bounce’ looked like it may have finally kicked in with twenty minutes remaining as Juan Carlos levelled the match for the hosts before Feddal was sent-off immediately afterwards for a second bookable offence.
However, Mauricio Pellegrino’s hard-working side stabilised and won the game as it ticked into injury time, with Mendez applying an ice-cool finish after Deyverson took advantage of a Martin Demechelis defensive error.
The win takes Alaves into the top half of the table while Malaga stay 16th – and have only one win from their last sixteen games in all competitions – as the threat of a relegation battle looms ever closer.