In a high-stake, tense battle at the Estadio Martinez Valero, third-bottom home side Elche scored a massive comeback victory (their first win in 2026) against Real Mallorca on Saturday afternoon. This fixture lived up to its billing as a “six-pointer” ending in heartbreak for the islanders and a lifeline for the hosts.
Mallorca started well, forcing a corner after just 18 seconds and looked the better side in the first half. New coach Martin Demichelis sprung a selection surprise starting with Zito Luvumbo down the right wing and Antonio Sanchez playing out of position at right back. Mallorca’s leading scorer Vedat Muriqi missed a sitter near half time and he had a game he’ll want to forget. Mallorca opened the scoring in the 58th minute through Pablo Torre with his third goal of the season after good work by Luvumbo.
In the first half Mallorca played some of their best stuff of the season but the second half was a disaster as tension and nerves took over. In the 61st minute a dreadful clearance from Mascarell was pounced on by Mir who quickly wiped out Mallorca’s lead, 1-1. Then the new coach made a strange couple of substitutions which I found incomprehensible and which changed the game. He took off our best two players in Zito Luvumbo and Pablo Torre and brought on Morlanes and Sergi Darder. In the 70th minute Elche flipped the game on its head. Ex Mallorca player Febas was involved in the cross that saw Morente rise to bullet a powerful header past a static Lato and into the bottom corner, 2-1.
You could hear a pin drop in the Mallorca Sports Bar as that went in and watching Mallorquinistas couldn’t believe what they just saw. By now Mallorca despite being all over Elche were playing the kind of football that’s got them nowhere this season.
Then late drama, in the 90th minute when another ex Mallorca player Pedro Bigas was alleged to have handled the ball in the area. Spain’s best referee, Alberola Rojas, missed that incident and was called over to the VAR monitor. The official pointed to the spot and up stepped Vedat Muriqi and despite being normally deadly from 12 yards the pressure got to him and he blazed the penalty over the bar. Disaster was confirmed. Following this 2-1 defeat, Mallorca’s path to safety got significantly more difficult as they slide back into 18th place, the relegation zone.
We’re there because of our biggest problem, our away form. We’ve now gone eight consecutive away matches without a win and haven’t kept a clear sheet in our last 14 official games. Stats tell us after the game that Mallorca now have a 45.6% relegation probability. Our next fixture is at home to Real Madrid on April 4 (Easter Saturday), where picking up points won’t be easy. Vedat Muriqi will be having nightmares after missing a gift and putting his penalty over the bar. These two incidents highlight a dangerous over-reliance on a single player for output. Mallorca’s destiny with nine games remaining (five at home) is still in their own hands. If we can fix our terrible defence, survival remains a realistic possibility but it’s going to be tough.