Real Mallorca’s long trip to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to play in the semi-final of the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid on Thursday night ended in disappointment as “Los Blancos” ran out 3-0 winners. The Madrid side booked a date with Barcelona in the final on Sunday night.
Reigning champions Real Madrid dominated the opening 20 minutes although the two best chances fell to Mallorca’s striker Cyle Larin and he missed both of them by some distance. The one-way traffic showed no signs of slowing down as the first half progressed, but Madrid looked devoid of ideas in the final third. Dominik Greif in the Mallorca goal had an inspirational night with a string of great saves.
As expected, the altercations between Pablo Maffeo and Vinicius Junior that have made headlines in several meetings over the years, were resurrected and both players were guilty of lots of off-the-ball shenanigans. Their final coming-together after the final whistle caused a real tear-up between both sets of players, coaches, backroom staff and security. The 0-0 half-time score was a fair result with our defence closing the door at the back. The only downside was when captain Antonio Raillo went off in the 32nd minute suffering from a flu virus and sat down on the bench with a cup of Lemsip!
The second half started well for Mallorca, although we didn’t cross the halfway line as often as we should have done. Our defence began to wobble and then Madrid did what they’re good at, scoring late goals. The first came in the 62nd minute, a header by Rodrygo came back off the post. Mbappe’s effort from the rebound was brilliantly saved by Greif but this time the ball broke to Bellingham and he hammered in the opener through a sea of legs, 1-0. By now Mallorca had lost their spark and didn’t offer anything in attack. Our defence came under extreme late pressure but still managed their expected capacity for resistance. The 3-0 defeat was harsh because the last two goals came from an own goal by Valjent and a simple header from Rodrygo.
SUMMING UP: After going behind, Mallorca failed to react and we didn’t have a single shot on target. That’s two games played, six goals against and not one save from either the Pontevedra or Real Madrid goalkeepers. Mallorca return to the island today (Friday) and can hold their heads high. The Super Cup was a beautiful and exciting dream. However, we had our chances and didn’t take them. Against a side with the quality of Real Madrid, if you don’t take these chances which are few and far between, you lose. Visca Mallorca !
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