A hard-fought goalless draw for Real Mallorca

Once again Muriqi had a torrid time. His job is to score goals but once again chances were few and far between. Coach Aguirre picked Larin and Muriqi up front but the combo didn’t work. The two front men playing together from the start for the first time kept getting in each other’s way and on several occasions went for the same ball.

Sergi Darder is finding it difficult to fit into the playing set-up and he looks a long way off the form that made him Espanyol’s top player for the past few seasons. Our best player in an almost-full Son Moix was the Belgian defender van der Heyden. I’ve been banging on for ages to give him a game. After a frustrating first half the key moment for Mallorca came in the 72nd minute. Muriqi was through and had to score but somehow his effort deflected off a Bilbao defender and the danger was over.

Throughout the game the best chances went Bilbao’s way and our goal came under serious trouble. Another wonder save from Rajkovic kept us in with a chance. But we seemed lacking in ideas. All in all a disappointing result as after the international break we face two away games at Celta Vigo and Girona, before facing Barcelona in Palma around September 27.

Many fans were late in getting into the game. The reason : turnstiles in both stands were not working, causing long queues. But there was some good news. A 50cl bottle of water was 1 euro. Two weeks ago it cost 2.50 euros !