Over the years I’ve watched Mallorca play Real Madrid many times in Palma, and on a few occasions we’ve beaten them. We did so by getting stuck into them from the outset and not allowing them to settle into any game pattern. On Saturday night in front of a record Son Moix crowd of 23,244, we were far too timid, allowing Madrid to come at us at half pace with their veteran midfielder Luka Modric springing pinpoint passes all over the pitch, mostly with the outside of his cultured right foot.
Due to rotations, Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti made six changes to his line-up, with most of the first choice players sitting on the bench with the Champions League Quarter Final second leg tie against Manchester City in the offing on Wednesday.
In the first half we were invited to surrender into the arms of Morpheus as the game descended into dreamlike depths! Then Jude Bellingham rattled the bar with a 25-yard rasper which was the best remedy for the fans comatose state. Without goals and precious little football we wondered if the second half would be better than the soporific first – and it was. The half was only three minutes old when French midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni controlled the ball and tried his luck twenty yards out. His shot grazed Morlanes and left Mallorca’s goalkeeper Rajkovic stranded, 0-1. With that early second half opener, things looked ominous for Real Mallorca. Our coach Javier Aguirre reacted and brought on Darder, Abdon and Mascarell for Morlanes, Sanchez and Samu Costa.
Halfway through the second half, in front of where we sit, Vinicius Jnr, Rodrygo and Camavinga were seen warming up. That’s around 500 million euros of talent and heavy metal for Ancelotti to win the battle. As expected, Vinicius came on to a cacophony of jeers and whistles, but luckily his dazzling skills didn’t happen as he spent more time on the ground moaning and whingeing! With time running out, Madrid cranked up the pressure and our goal led a charmed life. Then came a “nearly worldy” goal for Mallorca. From thirty yards out, Sergi Darder volleyed in a shot that looked destined for the top righthand corner, but somehow Madrid goalkeeper Lunin got fingertips to it and turned it round the post.
Both teams began to look fatigued and Mallorca had a couple of half chances with an out-of-sorts Muriqi having the best one after Lunin fumbled a cross. We had lost by the narrowest of margins and for me there looked a definite cup-final defeat hangover in the air, but not from the fans who were in full voice all night, making the atmosphere again in the Son Moix electric.
With Cadiz losing 0-1 to Barcelona, Mallorca remain six points clear of the drop zone. We’re still woeful in attack, making it our fifth consecutive league game to feature one goal or less. Next up we’re away at Seville a week on Monday at 9pm.
National police expelled two Real Madrid fans who supposedly had entered the stadium with two false tickets that they had purchased online. One of the aggrieved Mallorquinistas said that when he tried to enter the Son Moix, he was told his tickets had been validated. He was then told to report the incident to the ticket office, but they didn’t want to know. In the end, the police (to whom he’d also reported the incident) removed the Madrid infiltrators who had occupied the seats illegally and socio 10,028 and his godson were reinstated. I love a story with a happy ending. Shame that result was better than the match one!
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