Mañas rescued Alavés from defeat with an 89th-minute equalizer that sealed a 1-1 draw with Málaga at Mendizorroza. One minute from the final whistle, he turned a loss into a point, even if the result did little to hide how hard the home side had struggled.
That late goal mattered because Alavés had gone six matches without a win and had taken only two points from the last 18 available. This was not a team in control of its night. Málaga had already gone ahead through Adrián Niño in the 45th minute, after his goal was first ruled out and then awarded following a VAR review, and the match looked set to leave Alavés empty-handed in front of 16,099 spectators.
Quique Sánchez Flores tried to shake the side out of its slump by starting Ángel Pérez after suspension and giving Mariano a place in the lineup, while Jonny Otto and Toni Martínez were left out. Alavés did have an early opening through Tenaglia, but the pattern of the game was familiar: effort without much edge, then a need for late rescue. Mañas provided it, and the point at least stopped the run from becoming a home defeat.
Even so, the draw does not erase the bigger problem. Alavés had already taken one draw and two defeats in its last three home matches at Mendizorroza, and this performance again showed how fragile the team has become when it cannot control a match before the closing minutes. The late equalizer buys time, not relief, and the question now is whether Mañas’s goal becomes a turning point or just a brief escape from a slump that is still there.
