SC Heerenveen 0-2 Real Mallorca

Real Mallorca secured their first win of preseason after beating SC Heerenveen 2-0 at the Dutch side’s training complex. A fantastic goal by Jonathan de Guzmán caught the attention of locals, and Michael Pereira sealed victory with his goal in the 26th minute.

Juan Calatayud was given the nod over Dudu Aouate in goal as Laudrup named a strong 4-4-2 formation. He went with Emilio Nsue up front with Tomer Hemed with Michael Pereira and Sergio Tejera on the wings.

Heerenveen started well, and after Iván Ramis gave away a free-kick, they had a fantastic opportunity. The free-kick was whipped in and the Heerenveen attacker had a free head on goal but Calatayud made a good stop.

Mallorca’s first opportunity came when de Guzmán made a meaningful run into the Heerenveen half. He was followed stride-for-stride by Beerens, who the referee deemed to have infringed the Canadian-born midfielder. In the resulting free-kick, de Guzmán laid it off for Iván Ramis who drove the ball towards goal but Vandenbussche was equal to it.

In build up play moments later, Michael Pereira attempted a reverse pass but it was blocked. He immediately went to win the ball back and forced a handball by midfielder Kums on the edge of the area. The 23-year-old de Guzmán then struck a fantastic curling free-kick around the outside of the wall and into the goalkeeper’s bottom left hand corner.

It wasn’t long before Mallorca doubled their lead. A Pau Cendrós cross was headed back to the edge of the area by Tomer Hemed. Winger Michael Pereira got the ball under control before unleashing his trademark fierce strike into the keeper’s top left hand corner.

Filip Djuricic tried to pull a goal back with a long range strike of his own which flew wide. And another whipped free kick from the wing caused problems in the Mallorca defence as it flew past everyone in the wind and rain.

In the second half, Emilio Nsue was mightily unlucky not to give Mallorca a 3-0 lead after his header from a Cendrós cross went wide of the near post. And then Sergio Tejera was unlucky to be denied by the goalkeeper after good work from Tomer Hemed.

Gianni Zuiverloon made his debut on 53 minutes after coming on for Pau Cendrós, wearing the number two shirt.

Jonathan de Guzmán had yet another chance as his long range strike went low past the left post. And then Hemed linked up well with Michael Pereira, but the Frenchman could only turn his shot over the bar.

The game finished 2-0 to Real Mallorca – by far an improvement on last preseason’s 4-0 drubbing. But more importantly, it was a good performance by Los Bermellones. Particularly encouraging was the very strong performance of Jonathan de Guzmán, who will hopefully be able to really take the team forward this year. But Cendrós, Pereira, Tejera and Hemed all had a good game – and perhaps Emilio Nsue is the answer to the problem up front.

Next up for Mallorca is NEC. They finished two points ahead of Heerenveen in last season’s Dutch top flight. The question will be, can Mallorca emulate this performance.

Teams

SC Heerenveen: Vandenbussche, Goyweleeuw, El Akchaoui, Elm, Kruiswijk, Beerens (Narsingh, min. 64) Kums, Djuricic, Svec, Janmaat (m. 53 Breuer), Assaidi.

Real Mallorca (4-4-2): Calatayud; Cendrós (Zuiverloon 53), Nunes, Ramis, Cáceres; Pereira, de Guzmán, Martí (Pina 64), Tejera; Nsue (Aki 64), Hemed.
Goals: de Guzmán 18; Pereira 26.

Referee: van Boekel
Stadium: Bergum Sports City, Netherlands
Attendance: 200

You can watch highlights of the game on the Heerenveen website.