By Monro Bryce
In the first ever La Liga encounter between these two evenly matched teams, RCD Mallorca and newly-promoted Girona played out a dramatic 1-1 draw in front of 13,390 sweltering fans on Saturday afternoon. The stifling 34ºC heat plus the 68% humidity played a big part in proceedings both on and off the pitch. The intense heat turned the mostly concrete Son Moix into an inferno and many fans left the new “East stand” at half time and didn’t come back, it was just too hot.
At one stage fans chanted “Tebas” (the president of La Liga, Javier Tebas) to “Vete ya” (go now) as they protested about the unbelievable timing of Saturday’s kick off – at 2 pm!
We weren’t so badly off sitting in the main stand but in the nearly-finished East stand there were chaotic scenes at half time.
Only two outlets selling water at one euro (should have been free) were open and the queues (with fans’ mouths drier than Ghandi’s sandals), including small children and elderly people, stretched for hundreds of metres.
One irate fan tweeted “We feel outraged not only by the La Liga bosses but by the club itself. They haven’t raised their voices to complain about the fact that La Liga have scheduled three games in a row at 2pm. I’ve just renewed my season ticket in the new stand for 500 euros. Where are the spectacular services you promised us ?!”
One visiting fan had to get medical assistance for heatstroke. Our main sponsor this year is a Japanese sports company so they want to see their logo on the front of the Mallorca shirts being advertised on TV. Peak viewing hours in Japan, and for South Korea with Kang In Lee, take place at the equivalent time of 2pm here. Last season we had 11 games at 2pm, it looks like we may get a lot more but at least it won’t be so hot.
I can remember a game between Sevilla and Leganes in September 2017 which was scheduled to start at 2pm in Seville (the hottest city in Europe). They made a formal complaint and the match was rescheduled to 8pm.
AS TO THE GAME ! The first half due to the conditions was a “soporific snoozefest” not helped by another muppet referee Señor Diaz de Mera who brandished the first yellow card in the 12th minute.
As the game progressed it became more and more obvious that we lack a brain in midfield, someone with wriggle room who knows what to do when we have the ball. There was precious little creativity which meant our lone striker, Vedat Muriqi, was starved of chances. The visitors dominated for long periods in the first half but lacked the killer touch in the final third.
We nearly won a penalty in the 38th minute but VAR thought otherwise. I’d given up counting the number of fouls the referee blew up for as he put us all out of our misery by whistling for half time.
The second half was more of the same (but warmer!) and after a few changes Mallorca came to life. As the game continued in fits and starts it looked like a 0-0 was on the agenda. Then in the 86th minute we won a corner in front of our Ultras.
Kang In Lee (again our best player) put over the resultant corner, Captain Marvel Antonio Raillo controlled the ball with his chest before rifling home what we all thought was the winning goal.
Then with only a few minutes of added-on time left, Girona equalised. We were chasing the game up the other end as Girona broke away, Vallejo looked all set up to pull the trigger when Copete charged in bringing him down – a clear penalty as the Son Moix went silent. Saiz rolled it home, sending Rajkovic the wrong way, 1-1.
The referee was not keen on any kind of physical contact and blew for just about every coming together. Football is about passion and tackling is a form of art and skill. It’s an art that’s been slowly eroded from the beautiful game, turning it into a non-contact sport. Players are to blame as well as referees with all their play-acting and diving.
Spanish football used to be all about style and quick interchangeable passing. Our referee on Saturday certainly had it in for the Palma side. The foul count after the game was 8 to Girona and 23 to us. The good news is we’ve conceded just three goals after four games, all of them coming from penalties.
PS Both Mallorca’s new signings, the 29-year-old Serbian and ex Man. City midfielder Matija Nastasic and Zimbabwean striker Tino Kadewere, didn’t even make the bench for bureaucratic reasons.
Nastasic’s registration papers were late in arriving and evidently in Spain, African-born players’ paperwork takes longer to process. Both should be available for our hiding to nothing game away at Real Madrid on Saturday at (guess what) 2pm!!
AND FINALLY – WEE BIT OF TROUBLE, goalkeeper Connor Maseko was sent off for urinating in a hedge during Saturday’s English FA Cup first round qualifying tie.
Maseko, playing for ninth-tier Blackfield and Langley saw red near the end of the 0-0 draw with Shepton Mallet.
After the ball went out of play for a goal kick, he committed the dastardly deed and did the business against a nearby hedge. He was spotted by Shepton Mallet players who drew the incident to the referee’s attention.
The Blackfield manager was gobsmacked but said “He protected himself, he was inside the hedge, sometimes when you have to go you have to go!”
September 5, 2022 at 01:11PM
via Mallorca Daily Bulletin read more...
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