Mallorca march on in Madrid

Real Mallorca marched on in their vain search of Europe with an impressive 3-1 win over Madrid side Getafe in the capital. Víctor’s 29th goal of his Mallorca career, and his second in as many games, helped Mallorca to all three points taking them into the top half of the table.

Pau Cendrós and Gianni Zuiverloon will have been bemused to see winger Emilio Nsue start at right back for the game. Dutchman Zuiverloon is not expecting to remain on the island for too much longer, being linked with a move to Ajax. The team also saw B team striker Abdón Prats preferred on the substitutes bench to Marvin Ogunjimi.

Following Mallorca’s guarantee of safety, it was rather the scripted thing for the team to come out and say that they would now aim for Europe. But after a nervous two years one could be forgiven for expecting Mallorca’s season to tail off now that tiring objective of achieving safety has been reached.

This wasn’t to be the case, however. And with half an hour on the clock, Mallorca took the lead. Tomás Pina chipped a delicate ball over the Getafe defence for Víctor to race onto. Mallorca’s third leading goalscorer in La Liga history cushioned a header over Binissalem-born Miguel Àngel Moyà to take him to 29 goals and put the away side into a 1-0 lead.

Emilio Nsue justified his selection after his role in Mallorca’s second. A lovely reverse pace from Michael Pereira gave the sprinting Nsue time and space to play a cross in for Alejandro Alfaro. The attacking midfielder, from an almost impossible angle, cushioned another perfectly weighted header over Moyà in the Getafe goal. 2-0 with less than 25 minutes to go.

Tomer Hemed wrapped up the points with 12 minutes to go. Good work from Chori Castro down the left saw the Israeli striker handed a perfect opportunity from a cutback. He duly obliged and sidefooted the ball into the net from 8 yards.

The game wasn’t over there though. Into second half stoppage time Getafe pulled a goal back. A delicious lob from former Mallorca striker Dani Güiza beat Dudu Aouate but couldn’t beat the crossbar. Alexis was first to the rebound to poke the ball at goal. It was pushed away by Dudu Aouate but the match officials ruled that the ball had already crossed the line.

The goal made no difference to the game, however. And that result sees Joaquín Caparrós’ Mallorca team into 10th place, three points away from Atlético Madrid and their Europa League place. Getafe’s slim hopes of Europe took a blow as they slipped to 12th in defeat, four points from Europe.

Teams

Getafe (4-2-3-1): Moyà; Valera, Díaz , Alexis, Mané (León 67′); Míchel (Casquero 57′), Lacen; Castro, Barrada (Güiza ’57), Gavilán; Miku .
Substitutes: Codina (gk); Torres; Rodríguez, Sarabia, León, Casquero; Güiza.
Goal: Alexis 90′.

Real Mallorca (4-2-3-1): Aouate; Nsue, Chico, Ramis , Bigas; Martí (Joao Victor 57′), Pina; Pereira, Alfaro (Hemed 74′), Castro; Víctor (Abdón 79′).
Substitutes: Calatayud (gk); Martí Crespí, Cendros; Joao Victor, Tejera; Hemed, Abdón.
Goals: Víctor 30′; Alfaro 68′; Hemed 78′.

Referee: José Luis Paradas Romero (ESP)
Stadium: Coliseum Alfonso Pérez, Getafe, Madrid.
Attendance: 8,000.

Highlights