Real Mallorca 1 - Real Betis 2
Real Mallorca now sit one point below the relegation safety zone after they were beaten 1-2 by Real Betis in front of an 18,658 crowd (several thousand of them being vociferous visiting supporters) on a nippy Sunday carnival night in Son Moix.
This defeat was painful for the Mallorca fans, not only because of the result but because other results didn’t go their way. Victory for Getafe, Valencia and Rayo Vallecano and draws for Osasuna, Sevilla, Alaves and Elche leave the Palma side in dire straits. If Rayo Vallecano win their postponed game against Oviedo on Wednesday night, Mallorca will be reduced to playing catch-up.
Betis nearly took the lead in the opening minute when a terrible passback from Samu Costa to our goalkeeper Leo Roman allowed Betis’s Marc Roca to accept the gift-wrapped present. Thankfully his 35-yard shot hit the post. In Abde and Antony, Betis had two speedy attackers who had Mallorca’s dithering defence struggling to cope with their pace and tenacity. In the 18th minute Betis took the lead, when a snapshot from Antony from the edge of the box was parried by Roman, but Abde calmly steered in the opener.
In the first half stoppage time the visitors doubled their lead, when Bakambu ruthlessly fired home after yet another threaded pass from Man. Utd. reject Antony. As the teams trooped off at half time, things didn’t look good for Mallorca who were basically unable to cope with a team who were much better than they were, especially in attack.
In the second half Mallorca coach Arrasate brought on new loan signing Luvumbo, giving him his debut after arriving from Italian club Cagliari. His introduction was met with euphoria from home fans. Although he got “stuck in,” he looks like one of those African players who have long, spindly, wobbly legs, but only time will tell if he can improve our attacking options.
Then our best player, Vedat Muriqi (along with Virgili), scored Mallorca’s opener with a sensational curling header off his pony tail which bulged the top righthand corner of the net. That’s the big Kosovan’s 16th goal of the season. Such a shame he’s playing in a team which doesn’t provide him with more scoring opportunities, otherwise he’d be well into the 20s.
Mallorca were still making mistakes at the back and Antony had another effort saved by Roman, and then our centre back David Lopez (from Arta) cleared a certain goal off the line. A terrible referee only added on four minutes at the end when there was a raft of substitutions during the game; seven or eight minutes would have been more appropriate.
This loss was a missed opportunity for Real Mallorca despite a spirited comeback attempt. We had too many defensive frailties and had major lapses at key moments. With this defeat Mallorca have been dragged down into a tight relegation dogfight with little or no margin for further errors. Next up Sunday 22nd at 6.30pm we play away at Celta Vigo.