In a boring game of football, Italian Champions League side Bologna (who finished fifth in Serie A last season) beat Real Mallorca on penalties in front of 9,963 comatosed fans in a sweltering Son Moix on Saturday night.
After 90 minutes of nothing much, the game finished 1-1 after normal time. Thankfully we were spared extra time and in the penalty shoot-out Verdat Muriqi’s tame effort trundled past the post and Toni Lato blazed his over the bar into row Z of Ultras territory. Bologna only missed one.
The three highlights of this yawn-fest were a great opening goal after eight minutes from Japanese speed merchant Takuma Asano, a great performance from new Colombian left back, Johan Mojica and another show of integrity from teenage striker Marc Domenech. The youngster who has scored three goals in pre-season looks a real prospect and a fine effort near the end sailed past the right-hand post.
At half time new coach Arrasate changed the entire team, but our performance didn’t show the Basque coach very much he didn’t already know, leaving him with few ideas about our best XI as we await Real Madrid next Sunday at 9.30. It’s a box office game but a very tall order as our first match of the season against arguably the best club side in the world.