Make or break for Reial Mallorca

It's make or break time for Real Mallorca's Champions League challenge with Bernd Krauss's side knowing they must score two goals against Hajduk Split in tonight's third qualifying round, second-leg-match at Son Moix. Hajduk took control of the tie in the first-leg after a skilful free-kick by Mate Bilic gave the Croatian champions a 1-0 victory. But the team's fortunes have plummeted since then with UEFA handing veteran defender Igor Stimac a six-match ban on Thursday for assaulting Mallorca's assistant coach Damian Amer after the fiery first-leg. A day after the ban was announced Hajduk crashed to a humiliating 5-1 league defeat at home to Varteks. It was the team's second consecutive league defeat, putting Nenad Gracan's job as manager under intense pressure from the club's highly vociferous fans. Krauss, on the other hand, has a full squad to pick from and will be delighted his trusty left-back Miquel Soler has recovered from injury. Soler, who replaces Fatih Akyel from the first-leg, is vastly experienced and will undoubtedly add balance to Mallorca's normally tight back four. He will be joined by Fernando Niño, Miguel Angel Nadal and Javier Olaizola. Vicente Engonga and Marcos Martin are entrusted with breaking up any Hajduk attack, while the talented and hard-working duo of Alvaro Novo and Ariel Ibagaza are given the job of supplying the striking tandem of Samuel Eto'o and Albert Luque. The match is bound to be a heated encounter - the first-leg produced two Hajduk red cards - while the fracas at the Poljud stadium is still fresh in most players' minds. Krauss's main worry though will not be whether his team are over-passionate but whether his front two of Eto'o and Luque are able to break through a well organised Hajduk defence to score two goals. The Croats looked extremely composed in defence in the first-leg and even with the team down to ten men for most of the second-half they still managed to keep Mallorca at bay. Over the weekend Mallorca defender Niño warned his team against playing too much with their hearts and not enough with their brains. “It's clear that we can't let them take the initiative, but it would be stupid of us to run around at full-speed like idiots. “We need to compose ourselves and play the way we know that we can.”