Player Focus: Santi Cazorla (Malaga)

As Santi Cazorla stepped up to bend in a truly sensational free-kick into Iker Casillas’ top left-hand corner late on Sunday night many would have been surprised.

Xavi Hernandez, though, wouldn’t have been among them, only last week when asked about other midfielders he admired he said, “I like Cazorla a lot and I think he is under-valued.”

Unsurprisingly Barca’s metronome isn’t wrong, and Malaga’s record signing has been the sixth best player in the league this season according to WhoScored’s average player ratings and is the only representative from outside Real Madrid and Barcelona in the top-16 of that list.

Cazorla’s statistics are even more impressive when you see in just how many areas he has shone in a team that until four weeks ago had lost more games than it had won.

The goal on Sunday was his fourth from a free-kick, the most deadly of any player from a dead-ball and he has also scored two more from open play which means that only Michu, Cesc Fábregas, Xavi and Rubén Suárez have scored more goals from midfield.

The 27-year-old’s passing stats are also exceptional; his 6.9 accurate long balls per game are the third most of any outfield player behind Xabi Alonso and that man Xavi again, whilst he is also in the top 10 for successful crosses (1.6) and key passes (2.1) per game.

Sunday’s late intervention also ensured he was awarded his eighth man of the match award of the campaign, again third behind a certain pair called Messi and Ronaldo.

Perhaps most strikingly of all though, is that Cazorla has started every one of Malaga’s 27 league games so far this season, missing only 140 of a possible 2430 minutes on the field. When you see what has happened when he isn’t there it is easy to see why Manuel Pellegrini was so keen to be reunited with the player he first had under his tutelage whilst at Villarreal.

In one of the matches that has symbolised Malaga’s inconsistent campaign, the Andalusians were leading 2-1 away to Real Sociedad in December when with 25 minutes remaining Pellegrini removed Cazorla for a more defensive option in Apoño. Malaga almost instantaneously lost control of the match without the Asturian there to knit things together in midfield and Sociedad, who had won only once in their previous nine games, scored two late goals to record a 3-2 victory.

Indeed it has been the away form that has dogged Pellegrini’s side all season. Champions League football next year still remains very much on the agenda thanks to a terrific record at La Rosaleda, but that target would look a lot more secure had they not only won three times in 14 attempts on the road.

Again though, Cazorla has bucked the trend of those around him and shown great consistency no matter whether the game is played at home or away.

By contrast seven of Cazorla’s teammates have averaged over 7.0 when playing at home, with only Jérémy Toulalan joining the Spanish international in breaking that barrier away from home.

The draw at the Bernabéu represented a potentially significant moment in Malaga’s modern history. It extended their excellent recent run of form which has seen them take 10 points from a possible 12 and came at the end of a day which, thanks to defeats for Athletic Bilbao and Atlético Madrid, solidified their position as favourites to finish fourth and secure that all-important final Champions League slot.

It was therefore also fitting that the standout signing of their cash-rich Qatari-backed era and the man that has dragged them up by the coattails all season should be the one to make the telling contribution.

Pellegrini had also tried to sign Cazorla for Real during his season in charge there; right now he is delighted that was one deal he didn’t manage to pull off.