Real Mallorca suffered only their second defeat of the season when the 'Betis curse' again raised its ugly head. We haven’t beaten them for 11 years and we didn’t look likely to alter that unfortunate statistic when the Palma side were given a reality check.
Betis, on the other hand, picked up their first away win in 10 games. Honours were pretty even in the first half with Abdon Prats seeing his header cannon off the crossbar, with the Betis keeper Rui Silva beaten all ends up. In the 35th minute disaster struck for the Palma side when 'hard man' Samu Costa went down in a heap after a well tasty Betis tackle. The Portuguese player tried to continue but was forced to come off. Amazingly, another shocking referee didn’t show Cardoso the red card and without the drive and tenacity of Samu, Mallorca were up against it. In first half stoppage time, Betis went ahead when a bullet shot from distance by Altimira went in via the far post. Betis had one shot on target that went in. We had one header on target that hit the bar and didn't go in !
Betis contributed very little to their win other than continuously falling down and rolling over, as this game wasn’t a spectacle by any stretch of the imagination.
There was undoubtedly a hint of a cup win hangover going on, and all the euphoria that came with qualifying for the Copa del Rey semi finals after beating Girona dissolved like sugar.
Once again Mallorca continued their run of being unable to score in the second half at home, with the win over Osasuna before Christmas being the exception. As the game became a soporific snoozefest, Mallorca pushed forward without creating any chances. Muriqi had some more game time but still looks rusty, as he’s not in the best physical shape. Sergi Darder had his best game this season but Cyle Larin let the side down after his shenanigans on the bench after he was substituted in the second half. Towards the end Mallorca became frustrated and anxious and there’s no question the heroics on Wednesday took its toll.
Before the game started, we had dimonios on the pitch doing their fire-eating extravaganza followed by the letting off of fireworks. Unfortunately this game turned out to be a damp squib. In the 20,051 crowd, there must have been at least a couple of thousand Betis fans. Around 600 of them unfortunately caused a disturbance before the game in the S’Escorxador area of Palma. Next up for Mallorca it looks like 'mission impossible' with a Friday night visit to Athletic Bilbao in their San Mames stadium at 9pm.
2 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
In the league the Manager appears to send them out not to lose. In the cup last week, for once, there was an attitude of "we're here to win", much more direct and effective. Lesson to be learned, why not try that in the league.
Nothing like the performance we saw on Wednesday against Girona in the cup match.