The Almería - UD Las Palmas match has become one of the weekend's biggest trends for more than just the score. The 1-2 defeat for the Rojiblancos against the Canary Islands team not only changes the fight for direct promotion in LaLiga Hypermotion: it also adds pressure to the new project of the Andalusian club, reinforced this year with Cristiano Ronaldo's entry into the shareholding.
The Portuguese acquired 25% of UD Almería in February through CR7 Sports Investments, within the ownership consortium led by SMC Group. The operation was presented by the club as a step within its international expansion strategy and as part of Cristiano's growing presence in the sports business.
That is why the defeat against Las Palmas has a meaning that goes beyond the pitch. Almería had managed to take the lead with a goal from Embarba in the 61st minute, but the yellow team turned the game around in just two minutes, with a bicycle kick from Enrique Clemente and a goal from Pejiño between the 79th and 81st minutes.
A defeat that hits Almería's promotion project
UD Almería arrived at the final stretch of the championship with direct promotion as its main sporting objective. Cristiano Ronaldo's entry into the club's capital had further raised the media spotlight on an entity already marked by investment, ambition, and the need to return to the First Division.
But the 1-2 against Las Palmas is one of those matches that weigh more than three points. Rubi's team dominated a large part of the match, struck first, and had the game where they wanted it. However, they collapsed in the final stretch and saw Las Palmas snatch a victory that could have been decisive in the fight for second place.
Las Palmas revives the fight to move up to the First Division
For Las Palmas, the victory was exactly the opposite: a resurrection. Luis García Fernández's team started by suffering, resisted the local push, and ended up finding two almost consecutive goals that allow them to continue looking at direct promotion.
The match report emphasizes that the Canary Islands team remains with 69 points, two behind Deportivo and Almería itself, and level with Málaga. In other words, the comeback not only allows them to stay alive: it reopens the fight for the top spots with two matchdays remaining.
The triumph also had a huge indirect effect: Almería's defeat helped to certify Racing de Santander's mathematical promotion to the First Division, after their victory against Valladolid.
Cristiano Ronaldo, from the global showcase to sporting pressure
Cristiano Ronaldo's entry into Almería was not a minor operation. Reuters reported in February that the Portuguese had bought 25% of the club, then in the Second Division, and recalled that the entity had been acquired by the Saudi group SMC Group in 2025.
Cristiano's arrival multiplied Almería's international visibility. But it also raised expectations. When a club has investor muscle, ambitious ownership, and a global partner like Cristiano, promotion stops being just a sporting objective: it becomes a validation of the project.
It's not just that Almería lost to Las Palmas. It's that they did it at a critical moment, when every point has a direct impact on the club's narrative: investment, growth, international brand, and return to the First Division.
The football business is also played out in matches like these
Modern football has become a mix of results, brand, investment, and narrative. UD Almería represents this new scenario very well: international capital, a commitment to growth, image expansion, and a project that needs sporting performance to sustain its credibility.
Cristiano did not join the club as a coach or a player, but as an investor. But his name places Almería on another level. Every decisive match is no longer read solely from a local perspective. It is also interpreted from the outside: what is happening with the project, whether promotion is getting closer or more complicated, whether the investment is translating into immediate success or if it will have to go through a more uncertain path. The defeat against Las Palmas, therefore, does not sink the project, but it does create noise around it. And in the final stretch of a season, noise weighs heavily.
The comeback that changes the narrative
The match seemed to be under control for Almería after Embarba's goal. But Las Palmas found an escape route in the final stretch. First, Clemente equalized with a spectacular overhead kick. Then, Pejiño scored practically with the first ball he touched after coming onto the field, taking advantage of a through ball from Kirian Rodríguez.
Two minutes were enough to change everything: the score, the emotional standing, and the reading of the matchday. For Las Palmas, it was a victory of faith. For Almería, a fall difficult to explain in the middle of the race for direct promotion.
The keys to Almería - Las Palmas
- Almería lost 1-2 against UD Las Palmas in LaLiga Hypermotion.
- Embarba put the rojiblanco team ahead in the 61st minute.
- Las Palmas came back with goals from Enrique Clemente and Pejiño in the 79th and 81st minutes.
- The result complicates Almería's direct promotion options.
- Las Palmas remains alive in the fight to move up to Primera.
- Cristiano Ronaldo bought 25% of UD Almería this year through CR7 Sports Investments.
- The defeat adds pressure to the Andalusian club's international growth project.
A sporting setback with business implications
Almería still has options, but the blow against Las Palmas comes at the worst possible time. With two matchdays left, the fight for direct promotion is tightening and the club is forced to react if it doesn't want the season to end up in the playoffs.
For a team without Cristiano's media burden, it would be a tough defeat. For the current Almería, it is something more: a stress test for a project that wants to return to Primera, grow as a brand, and justify an investment that has put the club in the international spotlight.