Atlético Madrid 3 - Real Mallorca 0
Lacklustre Real Mallorca looked a condemned side after capitulating 3-0 to Atletico Madrid on Sunday afternoon. The home team have been misfiring of late and this was the first time in six matches this year that they had scored more than one goal.
Mallorca came into this game with damage limitation their no. 1 objective. They played like a team of strangers although Muriqi had a half chance early doors. In the 22nd minute Atleti went ahead. Our man of the match, goalkeeper Leo Roman, made a spectacular save from a Llorente shot. Nobody in the Mallorca defence could clear the rebound and the Norwegian giant Sorloth tapped in the opener.
Atletico have two massive Champions League games on the horizon and they took their foot off the gas. Their goalkeeper, Jan Oblak, was a spectator for most of the game, and the only time he got his hands warmed was when he was high-fiving his defenders!
Into the second half and our defence fell asleep as they began passing the ball sideways and backwards. Two players who were absent last Saturday in our 3-2 win against Bilbao, Maffeo and Mojica, had “shockers” and both were at fault for Atletico’s opener. By now the home side had ringed in the Mallorca team who struggled to get over the halfway line. In the 75th minute Atletico netted their second, or rather Mallorca did it for them. A move down the left saw Llorente’s effort cleared by substitute Mateo Morey. The ball struck Alaro’s David Lopez on the face and cannoned into the net, 2-0. With time running out, Atletico’s third was a beauty with substitute Almada shooting home from the edge of the area, 3-0.
I’ve said for weeks that coach Arrasate has lost the dressing room. We’re a predictable team of shell-shocked players who displayed defensive weaknesses and were totally ineffective in attack. Once again Muriqi was our best outfield player but was left feeding off scraps. However, he still managed a couple of near misses. Having said that, not once did Mallorca trouble Atletico Madrid’s goal. It’s all very well Arrasate banging on every week about defensive solidarity, in his words “in order to put together a run of results”. Mallorca have now gone seven games without a clean sheet. We started on Sunday afternoon believing we had no chance and so it came to pass.
A week tomorrow, Monday February 2, direct rivals Sevilla come to Son Moix, kick off 9pm. I don’t expect the ground to be buzzing for that game as Monday night football is not popular. There’s also the fact that many Mallorquinistas are beginning to show little faith in this team, and for me coach Arrasate has to take a lot of the blame.