RCD Mallorca - Athletic Club

Mallorca and Athletic Club drew three-all at Ono Estadi.

Iraola, from a penalty kick, Ion Vélez and Llorente scored the red-white goals. Cléber Santana and Arango (2) scored on behalf of the locals.

The losing streak ended in Palma and even though the 3-3 result does not alleviate the hardship in the standings, Athletic Club demonstrated that they have faith and, especially in the second half, the football needed to get out of this predicament.

The draw achieved by Llorente in extra time could be considered a victory, at the start of the match it was difficult to imagine our team scoring a goal, but one may also believe, with reason, that Athletic Club, thanks to the already mentioned faith in themselves, self-esteem and strength shown, could have been victorious because besides the three goals, they scored a fourth surrounded by mystery regarding the reasons behind it being disallowed. We could think that they were severely punished as we could see that they had kept their rival far away from the goal area during the entire second half.

It’s true that the two great goals scored by Arango, who threw the scoreboard off balance after the half-time draw, were unstoppable, but it’s also true that they were the only shots at goal taken once the second half got underway except for a shot at goal by Varela, towards the end, which rebounded off a rojiblanco defender.

Maelstroms of emotions in the 10th match day round, though sometimes it felt as though it were the 37th. An anticipated final after suffering the uphill month of October, we’re not here to let this one get away, a cold start to the match with Mallorca making it to the vicinity of the goal area with ease, all too easily, and once there almost always took a shot at goal. So much so that without realizing a Cléber Santana header had already made the scoreboard read 1-0 in the 11th minute of the game.

Aduriz and all his virtues was a reference point for the locals in attack with good handling of the ball and the Vermilion squad were waiting to counter attack so as to put an end to the clash. Athletic suffered in order to worry Lux, whereas the hosts tightened their grip with a header by Nunes, a shot at goal from a foul taken by Arango, a great shot at goal by Varela in the 34th minute which Iraizoz sent to corner and a header by Aduriz which sailed over the crossbar. Despite it all, the Athletic Club incursions did exist, but were as numerous as they were imprecise. The runs did not end up in goal and in their absence Athletic were seeing the ghosts of the past when Llorente protested about the grabbing and pushes he received in the goal area or as in the 39th minute when his header was cleared from under the posts by Jurado, the best and most active local player during the first half.

In the middle of this give and take affair, things couldn’t have gotten worse when a header by Mario Suárez bounced in the goal area only to go over the crossbar and the sun began to shine again when the referee called a penalty in the 42nd minute, for either pushing or Ramis’s hand touching the ball this is not known, though it seems for the second reason despite the player not having touched the ball. Iraola let Aduriz give some advice to his goalie who placed the ball on the opposite side.

A lifeline before the break and, one supposes a need for change, which was evident after the start of the second half. Yeste replaced Etxeberria and was positioned behind Llorente, although on numerous occasions they exchanged their positions with Martínez and Orbaiz.

It is obvious that Mallorca had been tremendously effective with their two spectacular goals, but the initiative of the game belonged to Athletic Club, and the opportunities and the nightmare of returning home without points after making merits of scoring was taking shape. Gabilondo was the first to give Lux a work out, in the 57th minute a pass by Aduriz and a tremendous angled shot at goal by Arango resulted in the 2-1 and the automatic rearrangement of the rojiblanco plans. Ion Vélez took Gabilondo’s spot and Yeste was sent to cover the left wing. Athletic kept going and Mallorca kept on doing their own thing, deep passes to Aduriz and waiting because Jurado was no longer the player he was in the first half. Arango neither.

If our team has the reputation of falling apart when goals are scored against them and of having just enough juice in the second halves, today’s match goes towards, in addition to summing up again, to dismantling the already mentioned clichés. In the 61st minute a good header from below by Llorente was repelled by Lux who was next to the post and then Llorente was shoved, a penalty seemingly. In the 62nd he was more dangerous, because he headed the ball perfectly into the back of the net, but it was disallowed by Medina Cantalejo. In order to make things more complicated for Nunes, although it seemed involuntarily, he touched the ball with his hand in the 63rd minute. Afterwards, Ion Vélez was not accurate with his volley after having intercepted a pass from the omnipresent Llorente.

And if you do not want a cup, have a cup and a half. Back to the old days in the 78th minute with a chip shot by Aduriz and a shot at goal with ‘bite’ from the Venezuelan, but just as effective: three goals to one with only a quarter of an hour left. The moment in which more than just one person was humming the funeral march tune, without noticing that Athletic Club still had the sufficient doses of pride to fight on. Rage to fight on so as not to increase the string of consecutive defeats in the League to six and thus be able to begin the week on a positive note.

To stop believing in witches or the luck of the future wooden spoons. However, on a day in which some, with the aim of stirring things up from the past, considered this not as a duel between Mallorca and Athletic Club but, between the ex- lion Aduriz and Ion Vélez/Llorente and, strangely, both scored a goal. Ion Vélez scored his second goal of the League after gathering up a pass between lines from Yeste and beating Lux. There was light at the end of the tunnel and it was not an oncoming train.

While Manzano moved his pieces to maintain the tone in the attack department, or at least the sensation of danger, sending Webo and Trejo to replace Arango and Aduriz, our team kept on trying… in minute 91 of the game, Susaeta, who had just stepped onto the field, kicked a golden pass to Llorente who, at last, justified his good performance in the match and Athletic’s performance to some extent as well.

A small step and now what’s left, if someone has forgotten, is to overcome the next Copa hurdle in Huelva and to become strong in San Mamés, because, more than a need, it is essential to win on Sunday.