When I saw the starting XI that Mallorca coach Arrasate had selected for round of 32 in the Copa del Rey on Friday evening. I couldn’t believe that four of our bench players had been picked to start and three other players were asked to play in positions they don’t normally occupy.
The result of all these changes proved to be embarrassing and disastrous, as part-time Galician fourth-tier outfit Pontevedra beat last season’s Copa del Rey runners-up, Real Mallorca, 3-0. If it hadn’t been for the heroics of our goalkeeper Leo Roman in the second half, it could easily have been 5 or 6-0. Our coach had severely underestimated the opposition, even after they had knocked out second division Levante and high-flying Villarreal.
For most of this game, Pontevedra ran circles around Mallorca, and I can’t remember a worst defensive performance from the islanders. Two individual schoolboy errors from Toni Lato and especially Copete gifted a vibrant Pontevedra another memorable cup scalp. They hadn’t been beaten since October and completely dominated the 95 minutes played.
It all started to go wrong in the 21st minute when Mallorca’s Toni Lato gave the ball away in midfield. In their midst, Pontevedra have a 24-year-old Brazilian superstar-in-the-making called Dalisson de Almeida, and he latched on to Lato’s howler by bulleting in a spectacular opener from 30 yards. Mallorca tried to react but Abdon Prats fluffed a golden opportunity when scoring looked easier. By now the stats had come up on the giant screen in the Mallorca Sports Bar that Pontevedra were more than running the show with 74% possession as they capitalised on some terrible defending that had more holes in it than a Swiss cheese.
At least half of the Mallorca team didn’t contribute anything in the game, and I can’t remember a match where we gave the ball away so often.
In the second half, Arrasate brought on Sergi Darder in midfield to no avail. Within three minutes of the restart, the Galicians doubled their lead. Darder lost the ball with our defence nowhere to be seen and Pino scored the second with another great goal, 2-0.
The second goal acted as a wake-up call for Arrasate, as he brought on the three big guns, Muriqi, Larin and Dani Rodriguez in the 65th minute. The Three Stooges might have done better (one for the teenagers). Then with time running out came the worst disaster of the night. Copete committed a gross error when he didn’t even look when passing the ball back to Roman. It was yards short as Rufo nipped in to score a third.
Pontevedra’s keeper Vizoso didn’t have a shot to save all night as this was a shambolic performance from Real Mallorca. It wasn’t good preparation for their Spain Supercup game against Real Madrid in Saudi Arabia next Thursday night, especially after the Madrilistas came from behind later that evening to beat Valencia 2-1 with a Bellingham goal in the 95th minute.
Mallorca say “adios” to this season’s Copa del Rey in their debut. Let’s call this an accident and let’s turn the page and move on!
1 comment
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Oh dear oh dear. Just when things were going so well. Happy New Year Monroe.