Marbella edged a five-goal contest against Lorca Deportiva, winning 3-2 at the Estadio Francisco Artés Carrasco. The match was decided by a first-half burst that put the visitors two goals ahead, and by a second-half sending off that left Lorca unable to complete a comeback. The Lemeister model had assessed the match as a near-even contest, with both sides given a 34% chance of victory, and the actual result fell within that narrow margin.
Chumbi opened the scoring for Marbella in the 23rd minute with what was recorded as a normal goal. The visitors doubled their lead just before the interval, when Juanmi Callejón converted a penalty in the 45th minute. That gave Marbella a commanding 2-0 lead at the break, built without any recorded assist but with clinical finishing. The timing of the second goal, arriving in first-half stoppage time, was particularly damaging for Lorca Deportiva, as it denied them the psychological reset of a goalless half-time.
Lorca Deportiva responded strongly after the restart. Andrés Silvente pulled one back with a normal goal in the 52nd minute, and Andrés Carrasco levelled the score with another normal goal in the 61st minute. At that stage, Lorca appeared to have seized momentum, having scored twice in nine minutes to erase Marbella's advantage. That sequence represented a remarkable turnaround, given that Marbella had held a two-goal lead at the break. Lorca's pressing and intent in the early second-half period forced Marbella onto the back foot, and the two goals rewarded that approach with parity.
The turning point arrived three minutes after Lorca's equaliser. H. Galiano of Lorca Deportiva received a yellow card in the 64th minute, followed immediately by a red card in the same minute. That left the home side with ten men for the final 26 minutes of regular time. Marbella capitalised on the numerical advantage when Rafa Tresaco scored the decisive goal in the 70th minute, a normal goal that restored the visitors' lead. The sudden swing from a position of strength to a deficit, while a man down, placed immense strain on Lorca's defensive organisation and attacking ambition.
The final stages saw Lorca's discipline worsen. A. Carrasco received a yellow card in the 90th minute, followed by a red card in the same minute, leaving the home side with nine men for stoppage time. That second dismissal, coming so deep into the match, all but extinguished any chance of a second equaliser. Marbella saw out the remainder of the match without further incident, securing all three points. The cumulative effect of the two red cards meant Lorca finished the game with a numerical disadvantage that made any late surge practically impossible.
The result keeps Marbella in contention in the second phase of Group 4, while Lorca Deportiva will reflect on what might have been after rallying from two goals down only to see their comeback derailed by indiscipline. Both teams used four and five substitutes respectively, indicating a match that demanded physical output until the final whistle. For Lorca, the two red cards, particularly Galiano's in the 64th minute, will be a source of considerable regret. The home side demonstrated the resilience to fight back from a two-goal deficit, but a lack of discipline at a critical moment undid that hard work. With the second phase of the season entering its decisive weeks, these points dropped at home could prove costly for Lorca Deportiva's ambitions.
