Mallorca are La Liga's revelation side

Mallorca play Athletic club (Bilbao) in Son Moix on Monday night at 9pm. Not an easy game, by any stretch, but a win for the Palma boys would see us covering half of our objective which is 40 points. Under normal circumstances, that would see us guaranteed another stint in La Liga. Although there’s a very long and winding road ahead, Mallorca are above big budget teams like Real Sociedad, Girona, Valencia and Sevilla. Local fans will welcome their ex midfielder Galarreta back to the Son Moix and it’s a special game for ex Bilbao and Mallorca striker Aritz Aduriz who’s now part of our scouting staff.
Monday night’s encounter has special significance as Athletic Club scraped past us on penalties in the Copa del Rey final in May. The game finished 1-1 after extra time. In the corresponding league game in Palma last September, the result was 0-0. New signings Darder, Larin, Samu Costa and the forgotten Belgian Sieb van der Heyden all played their first games then.

Last Sunday’s 1-0 win against Rayo was a funny old game. We had total dominance in ball possession and had the visitors on the back foot for most of the 95 minutes played. We should have been home and hosed by half time and once again Vedat Muriqi did his job and scored the only legal goal. In the second half we turned on the style and got all three points. Muriqi was back to his old self and was the undisputed star. After a month out with a hamstring problem, few fans expected him to start. His appearance at kick off was a declaration of intent and he didn’t let the side down. Less than three years ago, the big Kosovan arrived here as the unknown quantity. Since then he has won the hearts of the Mallorquinistas with his courage, charisma and most importantly – goals. He was substituted near the end and was given a standing ovation.

Mallorca’s American owner/president Andy Kohlberg assessed the story so far at a press meeting on Tuesday. As expected, he was more than pleased with the club’s present situation. One thing that stood out in his speech was the spectacular increase in season ticket sales. When the American consortium took over in 2016, we had 7,000 season ticket holders, now it’s 22,000. On social media we had around 300,000 followers back then, that’s now soared to 9 million. The renovation of the Son Moix, the record number of season ticket sales and the good performances of the team are reasons that Mallorca is averaging 75.8% attendance at home, which translates into around 19,729 supporters per game. A top figure considering that in matchdays 3 and 7 against Sevilla and Real Sociedad were Tuesday night games which, like our match on Monday, make it difficult for youngsters and working people to attend.

There’s no doubt our new coach Jagoba Arrasate is doing a great job. He’s maintained the defensive solidarity of Valjent and Raillo, in my opinion one of the best centre backs in Spanish football at present, and if it wasn’t for the fact he’s 33, I’m sure he’d be knocking on the Spanish national side’s door. He’s played every minute of the season so far and (unusually for him) he hasn’t received a yellow or red card – yet ! Arrasate’s tactical variations, with a 4-2-3-1 being his favourite, is making Real Mallorca a much better team this season. He gives special importance to getting full backs Maffeo and Mojica as far down the flanks as possible.

In other news, the first match of the Spanish Super Cup between Mallorca and Real Madrid will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday, January 8 at 10pm (8pm Spanish time). The other game is between Athletic Club and Barcelona on Thursday 9th at the same time and the final is scheduled for January 12.

Two giants of Spanish football are in dire straights, Sevilla (who haven’t even got a shirt sponsor) and Valencia are having their worst season in years. Valencia find themselves mired in a sporting, institutional and social crisis which sees this once-giant of La Liga rock bottom of the Primera. They’ve only got six points from 10 games and their very rich owner (the Singapore businessman Peter Lim) doesn’t seem to care. The team are trying to survive on the pitch with a squad of youth team kids, with very few of them anywhere near La Liga playing level. Needless to say, their devoted fans are not happy with Lim in charge and there are demonstrations every home game against the hierarchy. Last Monday their loss at home to Las Palmas (their first win in 27 games) caused even more grief for the Mestalla faithful.

And finally

Jimmy’s teacher is giving a lesson in nutrition, and asks the class what they had for breakfast. Susan puts up her hand “I had an egg, miss – E G G.” “Very good,” says the teacher. Peter says “Toast, T O A S T.” Jimmy then sticks his hand up, “I had effall,” he says, E F F A L L.” The teacher is mortified and scolds Jimmy for his rude answer. Later the subject is geography. Susan and Peter correctly answer their questions. Jimmy’s hand goes up again. The teacher reluctantly asks him “Where is the Mexican border?” Jimmy has a think then answers “The Mexican border is in bed with my mummy – that’s why I got eff-all for breakfast!!”