Tightly-contested Mallorca-Espanyol fixture ended goalless despite late red card for hosts

Mallorca-Espanyol goalless draw

NO TIME: The Mallorca players were unable to find a late winner CREDIT: RCD Mallorca

RCD Mallorca registered the team’s first point of the season with a goalless draw against 10-man RCD Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium on Sunday.
Manager Luis Garcia Plaza made three changes to the side which lost 1-0 to Rayo Vallecano on the opening day of the season as the team faced Vicente Moreno for the first time since his departure from the club.
Brain Olivan made his first start in club colours following his arrival from Cadiz CF in place of Ivan Bravo, while Salva Sevilla and Abdon replaced Stoichkov and Alex Alegría respectively. New signing Jordi Mboula was named among a substitutes’ bench including Antonio Sanchez, Luka Romero and Ruben de Galarreta.
The opening exchanges required Manolo Reina to be at his best as he first reacted to Wui Lei’s header with an unorthodox save before later getting down well to avoid a defensive mix-up with Antonio Raillo.
The centre back quickly atoned for the miscommunication when he climbed highest to test Diego Lopez with a powerful header having shown good movement to lose his marker just before the half-hour mark.
Chances were few and far between throughout the first half as Iddrisu Baba broke up Los Periquitos’ attacks and looked to feed Salva Sevilla, Aleix Febas and Dani Rodríguez further forward in a tightly-contested midfield. Despite Mallorca’s best efforts to slip past the hosts’ resilient shape, they would ultimately head into half-time deadlocked.
The restart mirrored the opening 45 minutes’ tempo, with Adrian Embarba cutting in and firing wide before Olivan hammered a wild strike over the bar from distance as clear chances remained scarce.
With gaps in the final third opening up as play began to stretch in the game’s closing stages, Salva Sevilla was able to find space and time to let leash at goal, only to be denied by a routine save from Lopez.
New arrival Mboula and academy product Antonio Sanchez were handed their first appearances in the senior side with 10 minutes left on the clock, as Garcia looked to change Mallorca’s offensive dynamic.
The remaining seven minutes swung in the Balearic side’s favour as Marc Roca received his marching orders for a second bookable offence having elbowed Dani Rodriguez while competing for a loose aerial ball.
Despite a numerical advantage time was unfortunately against Mallorca as the players were unable to find a late winner and will now have to quickly turn their attention to hosting oCE Sabadell this coming Sunday.
RCD Mallorca: Manolo Reina, Joan Sastre, Raíllo, Valjent, B. Oliván, Baba, Febas (79’), Salva Sevilla, Dani Rodríguez (87’), Lago Júnior (79’), Abdón (73’)
Substitutes: Miquel Parera, Leo, Iván Bravo, De Galarreta, Antonio Sánchez (79’), Luka Romero, Alegría (73’), Russo, Fran Gámez, Sedlar, Stoichkov (87’), Mboula (79’)
RCD Espanyol: Diego López, Cabrera, Calero, Miguelón, Dídac Vila, Wu Lei (57’), Embarba, Raúl De Tomás (84’), Melendo (57’), Fran Mérida (57’), David López (73’)
Substitutes: Oier, Angel F, Pedrosa, Lluís López, Puado (57’), S. Darder (57’), Marc Roca (57’), Vargas (73’), Pol Lozano (84’), Óscar, Carreras, Nico M.R
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Cathy Elelman

Cathy Elelman is the local writer for the Costa de Almeria edition of the Euro Weekly News.

Based in Mojacar for the last 21 years, Cathy is very much part of the local community and is always well and truly up on all the latest news and events going on in this region of Spain.

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