Another must-win home game on Sunday for Real Mallorca

We scraped a 1-1 draw against Osasuna on Monday night giving us our first league point of the year. The game itself was a dreadful watch for us Mallorquinistas and the result left a bitter-sweet taste when the final whistle blew just before 11pm. Minutes before, most of the 15,378 crowd were prematurely celebrating our first win (and goal) since before Christmas. However, with just about the last passage of play, in the 93rd minute Osasuna put out the Son Moix fire of euphoria. Having watched Mallorca put up a splendid rearguard action for the final few minutes of the game when Osasuna were all over us like breadcrumbs on a Scotch egg, it was only a matter of time before they would “nick” a goal.

Although on Monday night we found the net from a penalty converted by an out of touch Muriqi, we are still conceding too many goals. There’s another problem at the other end in creating chances when we reach opponents’ penalty area. Coach Arrasate, for the moment, seems to be avoiding criticism as he looks for solutions. Some of his substitutions are strange. On Monday night in the 81st minute he took off our best player, Robert Navarro, and replaced him with a raw B team youngster, Jan Salas. There’s no doubt this young man will be a very influential member of the squad in the foreseeable future but Monday night was not the time to give him his home debut against an intense rival, and with the game so even, Salas understandably looked out of his depth.

One player who fortunately hardly touched the ball on Monday was our ex striker Ante Budimir, now at Osasuna. The Croatian international has been on fire this season, scoring 12 goals and in his four years in Pamplona has netted a record 65 goals in all competitions. I wonder what would have happened if he’d stayed at Mallorca and scored over 60 goals with us ? Perhaps the club should have done more to keep him here. His agent made it clear in the Summer of 2020, after Mallorca were relegated, that they either transfer him or he goes on strike to force a move away. It was obvious Budimir didn’t want to play second division football with all its disadvantages. Valladolid were the first side to make a move for Budimir’s services but their bid wasn’t enough. Transfer deadline day arrived and his agent stated “My client has made it perfectly clear that he no longer wishes to wear the colours of RCD Mallorca.”

When that news broke, social media went berserk with Mallorca fans far from pleased with Budimir’s attitude. Our then coach Luis Garcia Plaza got in touch with a friend who was technical director at Osasuna and told him about Budimir’s situation. Before that they hadn’t even known about his availability. Garcia Plaza proposed that Mallorca would like one of Osasuna’s strikers as a part of the deal. With Budimir heading to Pamplona on loan with a mandatory purchase option that had to be executed in the Summer of 2021, for a value of eight million euros, we got a numpty of a striker (ironically now at Las Palmas) called Marc Cordona who couldn’t hit a cow’s jacksey with a banjo! Then came a gaggle of useless striking imposters: Alvaro Gimenez, Fer Nino and an American called Matthew Hoppe. With present striking incumbents Larin and Muriqi finding goal-scoring opportunities down to a minimum, would Budimir (who has returned Osasuna’s investment and some with a shed full of goals) have done the same thing if his time here had been handled better? All these striking options cost around 20 million euros. Budimir was sold for just eight.

A word about Sunday’s opponents, Las Palmas, last October they appointed Diego Martinez as their coach and the first few results were spectacular. Then it all went wrong and Las Palmas went downhill. For Sunday’s game their three best players, Sandro, captain Kirian Rodriguez and Wolverhampton loanee Fabio Silva, will all be unavailable. There are two Scottish players in their squad, Scott McKenna from a place called Kirriemuir, and ex Sheffield United striker Oli McBurnie.

AND FINALLY, a man wakes up in hospital after a terrible car crash to discover he’s lost his “manhood.” The doctor tells him that the hospital he’s in is the best in the country for transplants of this particular part of the male anatomy. He goes on “You can have an English one for £3,000, a Scottish one for £2,000 or a West Indian one for £5,000. The operation doesn’t take long, no problem.” The man croaks to the doctor, “I always discuss financial matters with my missus. She’s outside, can you ask her to come in and we’ll talk about it.” Ten minutes later, the doctor comes back in and asks “Have you made a decision?” “Yes,” the man replies “We’re having a new kitchen!!”