Nine Years On, Málaga Return to the Metropolitano

Málaga are back in La Liga after eight years — and their first game is at the ground they helped open in 2017. Atlético v Málaga, Wednesday at 21:00, in a matchday 1 that runs until 27 August.

Málaga are back in Spain's top flight tonight, and the fixture list has handed them a script no writer would dare pitch: their first La Liga match in eight years takes place in the stadium they helped open. Atlético Madrid host Málaga on Wednesday 19 August at 21:00 local time at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, a rearranged match from matchday 1 of the 2026-27 season, with Adrián Cordero appointed as referee. The last time these two met on that pitch, the paint was barely dry.

Málaga return to La Liga at the ground they inaugurated

On 16 September 2017, Atlético opened their new home against Málaga. They won 1-0 through Antoine Griezmann, who scored the first goal in the stadium's history. Nine years later, almost to the day, the visitors from that opening night are back at the Metropolitano as a top-flight side again. In between, Málaga were relegated, fell all the way to the third tier, and had to rebuild from the bottom up.

Their promotion came the hard way, through the play-offs. Málaga finished fourth in the Segunda División, knocked out Las Palmas and then beat Almería in the final, sealing promotion away from home. They are the third of three sleeping giants coming up this season, alongside Racing Santander — champions after fourteen years away — and Deportivo La Coruña, promoted as runners-up after eight seasons out.

• Racing Santander: Segunda champions, fourteen years without top-flight football.
• Deportivo La Coruña: automatic promotion in second place, eight years on.
• Málaga CF: promoted through the play-offs after eight years, with Juan Funes in charge.

A matchday 1 that lasts almost a fortnight

This is not a one-off rearrangement. Matchday 1 of La Liga 2026-27 began on 15 August and will not be finished until the 27th, because clubs whose players went deep into the 2026 World Cup asked for extra rest before starting. Five fixtures were pulled out of the opening weekend, and Atlético against Málaga is the first of those stragglers to be played.

What we have seen of matchday 1 so far is a warning to anyone filling in a coupon on autopilot. Alavés thumped Getafe 3-0, Sevilla beat Rayo Vallecano 2-1 and Espanyol saw off Levante 3-0. But neither of the promoted sides who have already played lost. Racing drew 2-2 with Villarreal at El Sardinero after leading 2-0 — Villarreal levelled with goals in the 45th and 46th minutes — and Deportivo held Elche to a 1-1 draw at Riazor.

• Alavés 3-0 Getafe (15 August).
• Sevilla 2-1 Rayo Vallecano (15 August).
• Racing 2-2 Villarreal (16 August).
• Espanyol 3-0 Levante (16 August).
• Deportivo 1-1 Elche (17 August).

Deportivo's goal came from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, signed this summer from Marseille. At 37, he became the oldest player to score on his La Liga debut. It is exactly the kind of detail that wrecks a prediction league in week one.

What is at stake for Atlético on their home opener

For Atlético this is a first night too. Grimaldo, Hjulmand, Kang In and Romero could all make their home debuts in front of the Atlético crowd. Starting the league twelve days later than half the division brings an obvious benefit — rest for the internationals — and an equally obvious risk: turning up short of match sharpness against opponents who spent two months of play-off football treating every game as a final.

Málaga, meanwhile, arrive with the one advantage newly promoted teams always carry into the first weeks: nobody knows what they look like yet. The club that reached the Champions League quarter-finals in 2012-13 comes back with a completely different squad and no recent top-flight footage for opponents to study.

How to read this matchday 1 if you play a prediction league

The split calendar has produced something genuinely odd: by the time Barcelona and Athletic Club close matchday 1 on 27 August, matchday 2 will already be under way. If you play the Spanish quiniela or run a prediction league with friends, it means the first picks of the season are made with far less information than usual — and that the three promoted clubs, Racing, Deportivo and Málaga, are the biggest source of noise on the coupon.

• Newly promoted sides tend to do better at home early in the season, before opponents have worked them out.
• Squads packed with World Cup internationals start with fewer pre-season minutes in the legs.
• A big club against a promoted side rarely pays what it looks like it should: the value sits in calling the draws.

If you fancy watching tonight's game with a little more riding on it, quiniPrats lets you set up a prediction league with friends in a couple of minutes and call the whole of matchday 1, including the fixtures still to come. No money involved and no pressure — just the pleasure of saying "told you so" when the promoted side walks out of the Metropolitano with a point.