Valencia 1 - Real Mallorca 0
When are Real Mallorca going to learn that a game of football nowadays lasts more than 90 minutes, not 20, which is when the Palma side began to take control of a game which finished 1-0 to the home side Valencia?
Mallorca started this game without six of their regular starters, including strikers Muriqi and Larin. After a quiet opening, both sides had chances, and later on in the half our goalkeeper Dominik Greif made a remarkable save from Valencia’s Nigerian striker Umar Sadiq’s header. Once again in Spanish football the referee took centre stage. Sr Hernandez Maeso’s performance was lamentable, being hard on Mallorca and lenient on the home side, who in the first period committed far more fouls than us.
After a minor coming together early doors, captain Antonio Raillo was shown a yellow card which alongside Samu Costa’s booking will see them both miss next Saturday’s European position’s home game in the Son Moix.
Japanese player Takuma Asano was easily our most potent attacker but he missed a glorious chance in the second half, nodding wide while all alone in the six-yard box. Minutes before, disaster struck when the normally reliable Mallorca caption Antonio Raillo sent a terrible pass to Morlanes. The loose ball eventually fell to Diego Lopez and he unleashed a brilliant shot into the bottom corner, 1-0. Mallorca tried to get back into the game but the referee’s whistle became the main protagonist in this stop/start encounter.
Try as they might, Mallorca couldn’t get that elusive equaliser, as our away-day blues continued, with this defeat extending our winless run on the road to seven games in all competitions. Mallorca have now also failed to keep a clean sheet in 12 games, and these two misdemeanours mean we failed to close the gap on the European places.
On Sunday night without our regular strike force of Muriqi and Larin, both suffering from muscle injuries after playing for their respective countries, our attacking options were minimal. Coach Arrasate made some strange substitutions as the game neared its end. He took off Darder and Asano, neither of whom deserved to leave the game as they both put in major shifts for Mallorca. Players like Abdon Prats and Samu Costa (who was booked for dissent) contributed practically nothing, but somehow managed to stay on the pitch.
With Celta Vigo playing against a struggling Las Palmas tomorrow (Monday), Mallorca could find themselves out of the European standings. All in all, a draw would have been a fair result and once again Valencia’s Mestalla stadium has been a problem for RCD Mallorca.
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Scrappy game, awful performance. Mallorca lacked any tactics, an uncompromising Valencia defence had the attackers in their pockets. To be fair they gave it a go in last 10 to 15 mins; but too little too late and basically was “hit and hope”. Maffeo drives me mad; thinks he is unbeatable; but either runs into trouble or does get crosses over that go nowhere.