Real Mallorca's, Dani Rodríguez (right), with the ball infront of Sevilla's a, Nemanja Gudelj, during a match earlier in February 2023. | Raul Caro
The story goes that when Villarreal won promotion to the third division in 1967, there was a party for which the Spanish version of The Beatles ‘Yellow Submarine’ provided the soundtrack.
As the team wore yellow, the song stuck and its title came to be the nickname; hence why Villarreal are to this day known as Yellow Submarine.
This is a team which consistently punches above its weight - beating Man Utd to win the 2020-21 Europa League and losing against Liverpool in the 2021-22 Champions League semi-final - and does so with a ground that has roughly the same capacity as Mallorca’s and with a population around an eighth the size of Palma.
For Mallorca, the meeting with Villarreal still recalls the needle that arose in the 2009-10 season, when the club and fans were of the view that Villarreal had convinced UEFA to expel Mallorca from the Europa League - to Villarreal’s benefit - because Mallorca had filed for voluntary bankruptcy.
Price
From 25 euros at rcdmallorca.es