Real Mallorca 1 - Alavés 0
In a tight, scrappy game, in front of 16,275 spectators, Real Mallorca’s Japanese winger Takumo Asano scored in the 37th minute to give Real Mallorca their first victory of the season, 1-0 against Alaves on Saturday night.
Asano neatly exchanged the ball with Lluchmayor’s Marc Domenech to create the opening and the Japanese flying machine shot home with a left foot effort. After scoring their first opening goal of the season, Mallorca managed to see out the closing stages of a poor first half and reach half time with a lead for the first time in this 2025/26 campaign. Alaves were the better team for long periods but lacked the cutting edge that had seen them score just two goals in their three away games so far.
Mallorca sat back in the second half but fortunately Alaves were unable to create any clear-cut chances, thanks to another brilliant display from goalkeeper Leo Roman. The home side, however, nearly scored a second near the end when Mateo Morey’s effort came close.
With time running out, nerves were palpable in the stands but when the final whistle blew, the Son Moix exploded with victory. All in all, not a great game by any stretch, but three valuable points for Mallorca which gets them off the bottom of La Liga, although we still remain in the bottom three. We also kept our first clean sheet of the campaign.
There’s still a lot of work to do on the training ground for the coach and his staff, but a win’s a win. Next up a visit to Bilbao to play a mediocre Athletic Club side next Saturday night, October 4 at 18:30.