The Mallorca conquered this Monday a long-suffering victory against Athletic Club in the stadium Sound Moix (3-2) in an electric match, in which the lions managed to come back from 2-0, but that was insufficient after the Unai Simon’s own goal after a shot to the stick by Japanese Take Kubo in the final minutes.
The Balearic team achieves its second consecutive victory at home, a goal it has been pursuing since the 2019-2020 season, and moves away to 6 pointswith one game less (on March 2 against Real Sociedad) from the relegation zone.
Athletic was looking for the third victory in a row on the island to approach the European zone of the table, but the defeat, second in LaLiga after falling to Madrid, separates him from that possibility for now. In addition, Marcelino’s team conceded more than one goal in the same game for the first time.
red and white casualties
Weighed down by casualties, the rojiblancos, in green at Son Moix, appeared on the island with a team of circumstances, especially in defense, where the absence of one of their fittest players, Íñigo Martínez -absent due to an accumulation of cautions- was quite a challenge to continue holding the condition of second least beaten team in the championship with 18 goals, only behind Sevilla (16).
Athletic, despite everything, did not give up taking the initiative in the first minutes of a clash that caught them out of hand due to the wear and tear of an intense start to 2022 with the Super Cup, LaLiga and the Copa del Rey.
The vermilion, surprised at first, insisted on the task of opening spaces on the wings, with Maffeo helping Take and Oliván helping Dani Rodríguez.
Although they had more time to circulate the ball, they did not circulate it with the speed and criteria required by a rival like Athletic, semi-finalists in the tournament but eliminating, in other teams, Barcelona and Madrid.
Salva Sevilla put the locals ahead
Mallorca threw faith to try to surprise the ‘lions’ and achieved it after a maximum foul -the third consecutive in favor of the Mallorcanists in Palma- for a demolition of Unai Núñez to Pablo Maffeo who transformed Salva Sevilla.
The enthusiastic support of his fans worked the miracle that each incursion into the opponent’s territory was chanted as a goal attempt.
In this facet the Kosovar played a preponderant role Vedat Muriqi, brand new winter signing and become the new idol of Son Moix. His teammates looked for him hard, especially Ángel Rodríguez, who scored the second goal taking advantage of a ball that Muriqi had fought in the area. The strike at the turn of the former Getafe striker was spectacular.
Everything would have been different in the first half if Raúl García hit with a failed spur with the entire goal for him after a resounding mistake by goalkeeper Sergio Rico. The goalkeeper on loan from PSG missed with a pass to Oliván, the ball reached the Navarrese footballer who, with everything going for him, chose the least effective option.
Marcelino made changes at the restart: Berenguer replaced Unai Núñez and Berchiche replaced Dani García.
This led to a change of positions on the left wing; Balenciaga was in the center of the defense and Berchiche moved to the side while Berenguer reinforced the attack. Later, with a clear desire to fight for victory, Iñaki Williams, Villalibre and Petxarromán entered.
The Mallorca had several dangerous cons to kill the game. He did not take advantage of them and Athletic equalized in just two minutes, with goals from Raúl García and Álex Berenguer.
The draw silenced Son Moix
The defensive weakness of the vermilions was manifested palpably and the 2-2 silence Son Moix, although the team took advantage of weakness with the aim of recovering the advantage on the scoreboard.
Both teams had their options, they fought until the end knowing that the point was insufficient. In the end, Mallorca was more successful, with a shot from Take Kubo who hit the post and bounced off Unai Simón to give the fourth Mallorcan victory of the championship at home after defeating Levante, Espanyol and Cádiz.
Datasheet:
3-Mallorca: Sergio Rich; Maffeo, Raíllo, Valjent, Oliván; Take Kubo, Ruiz de Galarreta, Salva Sevilla (Antonio Sánchez, min. 64), Dani Rodríguez; Angel (Kang-in Lee, min. 73) and Muriqi.
2-Athletic: Unai Simón; Lekue, Unai Núñez (Berenguer, min. 46), Vivian, Balenciaga; Zárraga, Vesga (Petxarromán, min. 72), Dani García (Berchiche, min. 46), Muniain; Raúl García (Iñaki Williams, min. 72), Sancet (Villalibre, min. 72).
Goals: 1-0, min. 22: Save Sevilla, from a penalty; 2-0, min. 29: Angel Rodriguez; 2-1, min. 58: Raul Garcia; 2-2 min. 60: Alex Berenguer; 3-2, min. 87: Take Kubo.
Referee: Diaz de Mera (C. Castilian-Manchego). He admonished Oliván (min. 12), Ángel (min. 72), Manolo Reina (min. 74, on the bench), Raíllo (min. 79), Kubo (min. 88) from Mallorca; to Zárraga (min. 52), Muniain (min. 57), Berchiche (min. 79) from Athletic.
Incidents: Match corresponding to matchday 24 of the LaLiga played at the Visit Mallorca Estadi in front of 12,904 spectators, 50 of them from Athletic.
