Real Mallorca 2 - Real Madrid 1
Mallorca’s twelfth victory in Palma against Real Madrid (since 1906) was full of epic moments, drama and heroism in a brilliant 2-1 win. This game had huge implications at both ends of the table, not just for Real Mallorca whose three points on Saturday afternoon took us out of the relegation zone as well as more or less ending Real Madrid’s title hopes.
The visitors had most of the ball in the early stages and were frustrated by a Mallorca side who tackled like demons and somehow managed to control one of the world’s best strikers, Kylian Mbappe. He hardly had a kick in the 95 minutes that were played, although his blistering pace troubled the Mallorca defence when he got the ball. The game remained scoreless until the 42nd minute. Then all these missed chances came back to haunt Real Madrid as Manu Morlanes latched onto a sumptuous Sergi Darder through ball and guided in the opener past Lunin with Mallorca’s first shot on target, 1-0.
In the second half Madrid’s coach Arbeloa brought on the big guns, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham, and neither made much impact on proceedings. Brazilian defender Eder Militao came on to play his first game since tearing a hamstring last summer. In the 88th minute he leapt the highest to head home Trent’s corner, 1-1, to spare Los Merengues blushes, or so he thought. Mallorca poured forward as injury time ticked away. Substitute Mateo Joseph found Muriqi and the big centre forward fired the winner into the roof of the net. The crowd of over 23,000 went ballistic. That goal saw Mallorca’s second victory in eight games and a first win this season against a team from the top seven.
SUMMING UP: Local fans witnessed some Mallorca magic on Saturday afternoon. Everyone including yours truly expected giants Real Madrid to roll us over.
Zito Luvumbo had another great game and left the pitch to a standing ovation. Leo Roman in goal was also a hero with save after save. I just wish he didn’t stand in the centre circle when Mallorca are down the other end on the attack. He was booked for time-wasting and was lucky he didn’t get sent off for a similar offence. With time running out Madrid hit us with wave after wave and just when we thought we’d done enough, up popped Militao to nod in the equaliser. You could feel the air being sucked out of the Son Moix, which rocked from beginning to end. When everybody thought we’d dropped two vital points, up stepped the king, the warrior, the man for the moment, “El Pirata”, to bring the house down with a goal from his weaker right foot, marking his nineteenth this season.
I was so happy for Muriqi. His winner today wiped out the image from our minds of him on the ground crying after losing the World Cup qualifier for Kosovo against Turkey and missing a penalty in the last minute against Elche last weekend. Next up is another very winnable home game against Rayo Vallecano next Sunday, kick off in the Son Moix at 4:15.
PS: Mallorca are now only ten points from Europe next season!!!