Fulham leave pitch as Malaga take penalty into empty net

Fulham‘s pre-season friendly against Malaga ended in bizarre fashion on Wednesday, with the Spaniards taking a penalty into an empty net as Alvaro Arbeloa’s side headed down the tunnel.

Malaga equalised in the last minute of normal time, when defender Calvin Bassey was penalised for a handball that allowed Eneko Jauregi to convert from the penalty spot to make it 2-2.

But that was only the start of the chaos.

Former Real Madrid boss Arbeloa was sent off for seemingly remonstrating with the referee at full-time but he headed straight down the tunnel with the rest of his players, who believed that the match was over.

But La Liga side Malaga were expecting a penalty shootout to follow, and remained on the pitch ready to decide the winner of the Costa del Sol Trophy.

With fans awaiting a shootout, striker Jauregi placed the ball on the spot and converted into an empty net before celebrating with his team-mates in front of the home support at Malaga’s Estadio La Rosaleda ground in southern Spain.

Fulham maintain both sides agreed the match would end without a shootout should it end in a draw.

“We can confirm that prior to the match, both teams agreed that there would not be a penalty shootout in the event of a draw,” Fulham wrote on X.

In a post-match report on Malaga’s website, the La Liga club wrote: “Although a penalty shootout had been scheduled, Fulham left the pitch, claiming that a shootout had not been included in the contract.”

Fulham conclude their pre-season preparations against Stuttgart on Saturday, 15 August.

Their first match of the 2026-27 Premier League season is against Chelsea at Craven Cottage on Monday, 24 August.