After a week when a friend of mine saw this sign on a visit to Japan – “If you cannot reach a fire exit, close the door and expose yourself at the window!” – Real Mallorca play the second of their “three in a row” home games on Sunday afternoon when they face Rayo Vallecano, kick off in the Son Moix is 4:15pm. They arrive on the back of a Conference League quarter final first-leg game against AEK Athens.
News broke earlier this week that club captain Antonio Raillo will most likely miss the rest of the season following surgery in Barcelona after damaging left ankle ligaments in training. This isn’t the first time he’s gone under the knife for this reason as he’s suffered injuries in the same area in 2021 and 2023. This is a major blow for new coach Martin Demichelis who loses his captain at the most crucial time of the season with the team fighting to avoid relegation.
Mallorca now have a double problem for Sunday’s game with Raillo’s centre back partner Martin Valjent unable to play through suspension. The coach has no choice but to improvise the defence in what is a crucial game. He may well give the youngster from Alaro, David Lopez, a start or bring back the Albanian/Italian Marash Kumbulla to play alongside Omar Mascarell who started in the central position against Real Madrid.
Our coach said before the Real Madrid game that if we beat them (a dream that became a reality) it wouldn’t necessarily guarantee survival. Neither of our next two opponents in Palma, Rayo and Valencia, will offer the same ease as a very poor Real Madrid side did last Saturday. Mallorca gained an unexpected three points that our closest rivals hadn’t counted on, but with eight more battles to fight there’s no room for complacency.
For the first time ever on Monday Spain’s biggest selling newspaper MARCA had four Mallorca players in their team of matchday 30 : Leo Roman, Pablo Maffeo, Manu Morlanes and Vedat Muriqi. In my opinion we had other standout players last Saturday : Zito Luvumbo’s electrifying pace was a real problem for the Madrid defence, as was (at last) the commanding presence of Sergi Darder in his new midfield role, and the magic of Pablo Torre. Our new coach has instilled a winning mentality in the team and the way they came back after conceding an 87th minute equaliser was impressive.
Demichelis uses his substitutes well and he’s introduced a positive philosophy that the whole squad has embraced. On-loan signing Zito Luvumbo ran Madrid’s two world-class defenders, Rüdiger and Huijsen, ragged and was a key factor in Mallorca’s victory. The Angolan has electric pace and is a threat to any defence. When he arrived in January, nobody had ever heard of him and we all thought he was another of director of football Pablo Ortells’ failed signings. Our last coach Arrasate hardly played Zito and his signing was criticised by many Mallorquinistas. Now his three-million buy option seems almost like a bargain.
However, the player who took all the plaudits for our win last Saturday was Vedat Muriqi. His performance last week was remarkable. During the international break he played all 180 minutes for Kosovo, not in two friendlies but two World Cup qualifiers. Kosovo (which is a country Spain doesn’t recognise) came within a hair’s breadth of fulfilling Muriqi’s lifelong dream and losing to a scruffy Turkish goal was all too much for “El Pirata.”
It was doubtful if Muriqi would even play last Saturday with all that was going on in his world. He said “I know I’m an ugly, tough guy but I’m also human. I couldn’t hold back the tears because I’ve had two very hard weeks.” In the 91st minute with a draw looking the likely outcome Muriqi controlled the ball on his left foot then unleashed a screamer with his weaker right foot to bring the house down, bringing Mallorca out of the relegation fodder mire.
I can’t remember the last time in Spanish football when a team struggling to stay in La Liga provided the second highest goal scorer (19) and 53rd for Mallorca, which sees him one short of Samuel Eto’o’s historic 54 from more than 20 years ago. While other modern players seem to be injured far more these days, Muriqi goes on like the “Duracell bunny,” accumulating little wear and tear as he collides with everything in sight!
He’s played 29 matches for Mallorca this season. Of those, he played the full 90 minutes in 21 of them and only missed one game all season which was due to suspension – no injuries whatsoever. His name can now be mentioned alongside Mbappe, Haaland and Kane as one of the best goalscorers on the continent. What an achievement for a Real Mallorca legend!
Football – it’s a funny old game. It certainly is for Real Mallorca’s Canadian striker Cyle Larin, now banging in the goals on loan at championship side Southampton. When he was at Mallorca he couldn’t hit a cow’s backside with a banjo! He’s scored four goals for “The Saints” in 10 games and seems to be a firm fans’ favourite. There’s a possibility he’ll make a permanent move to St Mary’s after the World Cup – let’s hope so!!
AND FINALLY, London’s Wireless Festival has been cancelled following the government’s decision to ban Kanye West from the UK on account of his controversial public statements. “There is no way we will allow somebody so hatefully bigoted and antisemitic into this country” Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Monday. He went on “Unless he comes here by dinghy, of course, then there’s nothing we can do!”