95th minute heartbreak for Real Mallorca

A huge mistake from the normally reliable workhorse Samu Costa in the dying seconds of added-on time saw 10-man Mallorca lose to Villarreal on Saturday afternoon.

Over the past few seasons, Son Moix hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for the Yellow Submarine, but somehow with their pace and quality they managed to keep their habit of scoring late winners in stoppage time intact.

This result was harsh for Real Mallorca against one of the teams that on Saturday’s showing could well finish in the higher echelons of La Liga 2024/25. Mallorca went behind in the 27th minute when Villarreal’s new signing, Cape Verde-born Logan Costa, headed in from an Alex Baena cross, which went in off the far post.

Fair dues to Mallorca as they stuck to their guns and teenage sensation, 17-year-old Marc Domenech, saw his effort tipped over the bar. In the 52nd minute, 18,303 rose to their feet when a Toni Lato cross saw Muriqi head in for what we all thought was parity. However, up went the linesman’s flag and the goal was disallowed for offside.

Then came a sensational move by Mallorca, Japanese winger Takuma Asano whipped over a fantastic cross which was headed into his own net by Villarreal’s veteran captain Raul Albiol. With 20 minutes to go, disaster struck. Toni Lato planted his foot inadvertently on a Villarreal player’s face and was quite rightly shown a straight red. That was the game-changer as far as Mallorca were concerned, and coach Arrasate was forced to reshuffle the pack.

It’s never a good idea to lose a game with two minutes left on the clock, but Mallorca, with one less player against a team of the quality of Villarreal, were facing an almost impossible task. With time running out, an individual error from Samu Costa gifted Ayoze Perez a tap-in at the death.

Coach Arrasate said afterwards: “The players don’t need to be told anything. Two bad refereeing decisions went against us and it’s a difficult moment for Toni and Samu. The good thing is that on Tuesday night there’s another game at home to Real Sociedad. We have to focus on that.”