Captain Antonio Raillo nodded in our tenth corner kick of the game in the 84th minute. Once again main strikers Cyle Larin and Vedat Muriqi found scoring difficult, both of them missing sitters.
Granada, who won La Segunda last season, did precious little to worry the home side and their coach “Cocique” Medina did what all good coaches never do, making a double substitution in a dead-ball situation. The visitors’ goalkeeper Augusto Batalla was the main reason the game finished goalless after 45 minutes.
We lacked any threat from midfield but all that was about to change after the interval. Manu Morlanes came on and he became the game changer. By now ’keeper Batalla was a man inspired, and made a hat trick of back-to-back saves.
Then came a player introduction that had the 16,447 crowd on their feet. On loan from Torino attacker Nemanja Radonjic struck the woodwork with his second touch with a volley and his passing with the outside of the boot was a joy to behold.
In the 84th minute came the winner. Binissalem’s Javi Llabres swung over a worldy corner and Raillo rose high to head in, his effort bringing the team closer to staying in La Liga for another season.
I’ve never seen such an emotional goal for Mallorca for a long time as after the game some fans said they felt tearful after Raillo scored. Before that it was one of those games where we did everything but put the ball in the net.
In the last home game before the Cup final, Mallorca dug deep to snatch a late victory. However, Saturday’s game was the same old story for Mallorca this season : dominate the game, great build-up then in the penalty area it all goes haywire. Coach Aguirre has his work cut out on the training pitch to try and rectify our lack of goals, 25 in 29 games is a poor statistic. Our goal once again came from a set piece and was scored by a defender. Our last four goals have been scored by them, namely Nastasic, Gio, Copete and now Raillo. Larin remains a problem and I reminded people after the game that he signed a five-year contract.
In our next game, away at Valencia on Saturday March 30 at 6:30, both Abdon and Radonjic deserve their chance to start. Centre half and captain Raillo has scored three goals so far this season, more than 7 million euro striker Larin who has only netted twice. Mallorca added three points of incalculable value as La Liga pauses for the international break and we have one eye on the Copa del Rey final.
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A great result, but it was a very hard match for Mallorca.