A fter a week when Prince Harry unexpectedly arrived in Ukraine with a year’s supply of Meghan’s luxury jam – have these unfortunate people not suffered enough? – Real Mallorca completed a perfect weekend when, after beating Real Sociedad 0-2 (the first time we’d won at Anoeta in La Liga for 21 years), all the other teams playing for the last spot in the Conference League (or even the Europa League) round about us in mid-table lost. Sevilla, Getafe, Celta, Real Sociedad and Rayo Vallecano all came unstuck. With seven games left to play (four away and three at home) we’re joint eighth with Celta on 43 points.
This coming weekend there’s another dog-fight between teams on the fringe of European football participation. Celta play away at Barcelona, Sociedad are at Villareal and Rayo take on a resurgent Valencia. Mallorca entertain second-bottom Leganes in the Son Moix, on Easter Saturday, at 6.30pm.
We don’t have the best record against teams fighting for survival and we’ve already dropped home points to Las Palmas and Alaves but surely after last Saturday’s unexpected but deserved 0-2 win we surely cannot slip up again at home to bottom dwellers – can we?? The game against Leganes has been described as high voltage by the local media. Dreaming is a must and now is the time for everyone to respond : club, fans, players and coaching staff.
Disappointingly only 18,291 made it to the Celta game. We¡ve sold just over 22,000 season tickets which means nearly 4,000 “socios” didn’t turn up. Tomorrow’s 18:30 kick off is the perfect time. Last season at this stage the ground was full as we fought relegation. Now with the teams going for Europe, something we haven’t done for 24 years, we shouldn’t see so many empty seats. It’s been reported the club are surprised by the lacklustre response from a significant portion of the supposedly loyal fans during what should be an exciting part of the season. Things like high ticket prices don’t help the cause. Many fans are staying away because a possible appearance in Europe doesn’t get the juices flowing.
That European dream is alive again more than ever. I put my hands up, I thought that dream was gone – how wrong I was! In San Sebastian, Mallorca started the game without four of their best players and not many Mallorquinistas gave them a chance. However, they displayed efficiency in attack, worked their socks off in midfield and demonstrated solidarity in defence. We also had a goalkeeper who made two brilliant game-defining, masterful saves.
Midfielder Sergi Darder was the main protagonist for Mallorca last Saturday when he produced the best performances of his season. He scored a goal and provided an assist. Many times the player from Arta has been criticised for his performances, but when he’s at his best Darder is a class act. He played so well that he was included in Monday’s “Marca” team of the weekend.
I don’t think there’ll be many changes for tomorrow’s game but youngster Marc Domenech should make an appearance after scoring a hat-trick for the already relegated B team. Under-fire striker Cyle Larin scored his first goal of the year on Saturday. He’s now found the net six times and half of them have been scored away from Palma. When he scores, Mallorca win.
On Saturday night there was a friendly game in Son Moix when a team of retired Brazilian stars led by Ronaldhino took on a Spanish team led by ex Mallorca, Real Mallorca and Bolton Wanderers midfielder Ivan Campo. A crowd of eight thousand watched the game but as the final whistle blew hundreds of people jumped over the wall and ran on to the pitch to take pictures etc. The private security hired for the event were incapable of holding back the invaders and were overrun. As most football “aficionados” know, it’s sacrilege to step onto any club’s hallowed turf, especially as the season’s far from over. Given as security couldn’t clear the pitch invasion (most of the scallywags were of tender years), the sprinklers were turned on with little effect as many ignored them and played in the water. The ground staff were hoping there wasn’t too much damage done to the grass with such an important game on Saturday.
PS Numpty of the week award goes to a contestant on BBC2 afternoon quiz show Lightning (Q) What instrument did Ringo Starr play in The Beatles? Back came the answer “bass guitar” and they walk amongst us!
AND FINALLY, the other day the missus told me to take a spider I found in the kitchen sink outside instead of killing it. So I took it out and we had a few drinks. Nice guy, turned out he was a web designer!