The Arta connection wins it for Mallorca

Real Mallorca went fifth in La Liga on Friday night after a thrilling, if flawed at times, 2-1 defeat of Valencia in front of 17,717 fans. They did so after coming back from a Valencia penalty goal scored by Luis Rioja in the 32nd minute, after Mojica inadvertently handled in the area.

The early stages showed two teams with attacking intent but unfortunately both sides’ finishing wasn’t the best. That is until the second minute of added-on time in the first half. Dani Rodriguez completed his fourth assist of the season as his beautiful cross saw Cyle Larin tuck away the opener. It’s a strange situation when it seems that Larin plays better when his striking partner Vedat Muriqi is absent. The stand-side linesman initially flagged for Larin’s effort to be ruled offside, but VAR validated the goal. What a wonderful addition to a game of football VAR is !!!

The second half unfolded in a similar fashion to the first with, surprise, surprise, Cyle Larin being our main attacking protagonist. Valencia by now looked to be running on empty as they hung on to settle for a share of the spoils. Then bedlam erupted in the Son Moix with Abdon Prats seen warming up on the touchline. Shouts of “Abdon, Abdon” reverberated around an excited Son Moix.

I thought to myself “He couldn’t, could he ?” He was only on the pitch a matter of minutes when a wonderful cross from fellow Arta native Sergi Darder saw the moustachioed maestro score with a close-range header. Abdon fastened his Superman cape and came to the rescue, as he extended his “goals to remember” tally.

It’s uncanny the number of times Abdon Prats has come off the bench to clinch victory in the dying embers of a game. With this narrow win on Friday night, Mallorca took a giant step to keeping their early season European football dream alive. As delighted fans exited the Son Moix, many were saying they can’t wait until Barcelona come to town on Tuesday night at 7pm. BRING IT ON.