RCD Mallorca, whose away form of late has been feeble, got out of jail in Valladolid on Easter Sunday with a heart-stopping 94th minute penalty equaliser converted by Vedat Muriqi after VAR came to the Palma side’s rescue – isn’t VAR a wonderful thing ?!!!
Almost everything happened in this game, which was spoilt as a spectacle by far too many stoppages for niggly fouls. Mallorca arrived in Valladolid six players down through suspension and injury, and introduced January signings Hadzikadunic (they managed to get all those letters on the back of his jersey !) and Manu Morlanes, who’s on loan from Villareal. I’ve been banging on for weeks about these guys to be introduced to the starting XI.
Mallorca came to the Estadio Jose Zorrilla in a six-game losing run of away games, a dismal sequence that also saw them play five games on the road without a goal. We started the better team overall but Valladolid managed to nick the opening goal in the 32nd minute when an unmarked Kiki Perez rifled home, 1-0.
Coach Aguirre had selected Amath to start but he once again failed to put away at least four chances that came his way. Credit to Mallorca, they plugged away and got their just reward in the 52nd minute when Maffeo broke down the right and crossed a humdinger for Muriqi to do what he does best – head the ball into the net. Our turnaround looked complete when Kang In Lee (once again the best player on the pitch) saw his free kick rebound off the defensive wall and into the path of Manu Morlanes, who hammered home a beauty from distance, 1-2.
Valladolid brought on a substitute, Selim Amallah, and with his first touch he volleyed in the equaliser, sending the 18,000 crowd doolally. With time running out, Valladolid again went ahead when Monchu’s diving header made it 3-2. It looked curtains for the Palma side, but there had to be, in this crazy game, a last minute twist. And so it came to pass on Easter Sunday that Canadian-born Larin handled in the area, referee Muniz Ruiz didn’t see the incident but VAR did and he was urged to view the pitch-side monitor screen. It was heart in mouth time for a quieter than usual Mallorcafe. After an agonising few minutes, the referee pointed to the spot and Muriqi put it straight down the middle, 3-3. The Kosovan striker has now scored 12 goals.
SUMMING UP : Our circle of six away defeats finally came to an end on Sunday. This was a game the Spanish call “Un partido infarto” as it was a roller coaster of emotions and new boy Morlanes’ goal and Muriqi’s double gave RCD Mallorca a breath of air for a team whose defence on Sunday gave away three stupid goals. With ten games left to play, Mallorca realistically need eight more points to stay in La Liga. However, there are still a lot of games to be played and we’re still not out of danger, with another away game at Celta Vigo a week on Monday, where we could still be flirting with danger.