After a week when on Valentine’s Day a friend asked me “How many red roses should I give my darling wife, six, eight or 12?” and I told him “Just give her the whole tin!” – Real Mallorca face Real Sociedad for the second time in 12 days on Sunday at 6.30pm in Son Moix. Both teams must be fed up with the sight of each other as they’ll play a third time on Tuesday 27th at 21:30 in the Copa del Rey semifinal second leg in San Sebastian. The first leg remained goalless.
After an agonising 2-1 win against Rayo Vallecano last Sunday, Mallorca went six points clear of the relegation zone as we reach match day 25 in La Liga EA Sports. Last Sunday’s game looked to be petering out into yet another soporific draw until the 91st minute when up popped Vedat Muriqi to nod in a brilliant header from a corner (his first headed goal this season) to give us all three golden points.
Muriqi is still not match fit after a long lay off with a calf muscle problem but he proved on Sunday just how a decisive player he is for the Mallorca cause. After the game, a visibly moved Muriqi told the local media “I really wanted to be the real Muriqi again and get back to scoring goals. I love the Mallorca fans and I hope I will be here for many more years.”
With the Rayo game won and gone, the Palma side have finished a ten-game marathon (six in La Liga and four in the Copa del Rey) in 39 days.
This Sunday’s opponents have gone off the boil of late but are still formidable opponents. They noticeably had a poor second half in their 2-0 Champions League defeat at PSG in Paris on Wednesday. Ex Mallorca star Take Kubo is a Sociedad player and the Japanese forward signed a five-year contract extension this week.
Mallorca’s coach Javier Aguirre started last Sunday with his usual five at the back. For me, that’s an OK system for away games but for home matches let’s throw caution to the wind and go for a more attacking line-up. With us going nowhere in the first half, Aguirre turned to 4-4-2 and it made all the difference. Star Summer signing, Sergi Darder, is still not performing to expectations and is only seen in dribs and drabs.
One of my favourite subjects in this column over the years is that of Spanish referees. Last Sunday we had an apology of one named Montero Munuera. Not only did he book Nastasic after just 18 seconds, he sent off our fitness coach and unbelievably the club doctor ! What would have happened if one of our players needed medical attention, would the referee who sent him off ask him to come back on again ?
Football today is a lot of rolling around, simulation, diving and pretending to be injured. Referees do have a difficult job. However, we’ve reached the stage now where their performances are more important in any game than the game itself. The referees in Spain take centre stage every week and their decisions change results, especially the numpties who sit in the VAR room in Madrid.
Believe it or not, but Spanish referees are considered to be among the best in Europe. Several of them officiate in European competitions and wear the FIFA emblem on their match day jerseys.
La Liga referees earn a basic salary of 12,500 euros a month even if they don’t officiate at a game in that time. For each La Liga game they are in charge of, they get a further 4,500 euros and the VAR guys get 2,000 euros per game. If they referee a Champions League game they receive 7,000 euros. All expenses are paid, travelling expenses, business trips, four star hotels, lunches, dinners, all are subsidised by the national refereeing committee. In turn, that money comes from TV revenue.
I totally agree with fellow columnist Richie Prior regarding the demise of the Mallorcafe. I was a regular there all year round and a group of us would book a table to watch all the away games. There’s been a void to find somewhere similar to sit with fellow Mallorquinistas, but all that is apparently about to change.
There’s a new commercial area about to be built, located in the North end which will include a high-performance clinic, a gym and spa and, most importantly (for us) a Sports bar. The new two-storey bar area will replace the old Mallorcafe and have a total of 339 square metres with giant TV screens. This Sports bar will be run by the international brand Sodexo, which operate the food outlets in the ground, where they charge 2.50€ for a 50cl bottle of water!
AND FINALLY, Tiger Woods and Stevie Wonder bumped into each other at a charity do in New York. Stevie said “I have been a great admirer of yours for a long time and it’s because of you I’ve taken up golf.” Tiger replied “You play golf ? Forgive me for asking but how does a blind man like you play golf ?” Stevie told him: “It’s quite simple, my caddie lines me up then runs down the fairway calling out very loudly. I then hit the ball in the direction of his calls. The same process takes place with each shot and when I get on the green he lies with his mouth against the hole and I just putt the ball in the direction of his voice.”
Tiger said “That’s brilliant, perhaps we could play a few holes together ?” Stevie answered “That would be great but I only play for a financial wager and my price is 10,000 USD per hole.” Tiger thought it should be a doddle to beat a blind man, so agreed. “I accept the challenge, when do we play ?” Stevie replied “Midnight on Tuesday !”
No comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Currently there are no comments.