If they win on the last day, Mallorca will continue in the first division.
Photo: Rafa Babot/Getty Images
The Mallorca has left the relegation zone and it will depend on himself to tie up the permanence on the last day against Osasuna in Pamplona, after defeating Rayo Vallecano 2-1 this Sunday in a game that was vital for the team from Mexican Javier Aguirrebut absolutely inconsequential for coach Andoni Iraola.
The tension and desire that the Mallorcan players put on the pitch were decisive for the Balearic Abdón Prats, hero of the last promotion to First Division, to score the winning goal in stoppage time.
The Mallorcan goal against Rayo was twofold: to erase from his public the terrible image offered last week against Granada, who thrashed 2-6, and to keep alive the flame of hope to play for permanence in El Sadar.
From minute 1 it was clear that the one who was risking his life was Mallorca. His game, vertical and looking hard for the rival goal, overwhelmed a Rayo that arrived at Son Moix with their homework done and already thinking about the next season.
It is not that the Vallecas team put out a red carpet for the locals to shine, far from it. But until the second half he was always in tow, surpassed by an opponent who was playing for the First Division.
Mallorca was superior in the first part to a harmless Rayo in the last meters. The Colombian Radamel Falcao and the Frenchman of Congolese origin Randy Nteka found no space to disturb Manolo Reina.
Nor could the midfield of the Madrid team overcome a well-placed rival on the field of play and who was able to set the pace of the match that was most convenient for their interests with the goal by Vedat Muriqi.
The Kosovar striker has become the great Majorcan figure since he arrived on the island in the last winter market. With his fifth goal he became the team’s top scorer along with Salva Sevilla.
Aguirre repeated the 0-0 block in Seville and his counterpart Iraola appealed to rotations forced by significant casualties in their ranks.
The vermilion went to rest depending on themselves for the goal of permanence due to Cádiz’s draw against Real Madrid.
Although Aguirre had warned that he did not want to know anything about what was happening in other fields, many Majorcan fans were closely following the movements on the scoreboard at the Nuevo Mirandilla stadium.
Rayo came out after the restart determined to seek a draw. He forced Mallorca to go back many meters, each time, with more danger for the local goal. When “Vasco” Aguirre was about to make the first changes, the visitor’s goal came, the work of Pathè Ciss, from Senegal, who headed in free from marking after a corner and left the local fans speechless.
Start again, this time with the Japanese Take Kubo and Dani Rodríguez in the field, the vermilions went on a desperate attack. Rayo’s goal returned them to relegation places in a final stretch that was played to an open grave.
Mallorca tried everything, even at the risk of leaving Manolo Reina unprotected. Y the hero was Abdon Pratsan idol for the Majorcan fans, who did not hesitate to shoot on goal in the 91st minute to give life to his team.
After Cádiz’s draw, Mallorca leaves the relegation zone (exceeds the people of Cadiz in the particular calculation) and will depend on himself to continue one more season in the First Division.
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