Mallorca comeback earns islanders a draw

Friendly Match: La Quinta, Marbella, Spain

R.C.D. Mallorca 2 (Ante Budimir 44’, Salva Sevilla (Pen.) 71’)

Real Valladolid 2 (Diego Alende 10’, Sergi Guardiola 27’)

Real Valladolid let slip a 2-0 lead to draw with R.C.D. Mallorca in the second and final match of their visit to Marbella. Played a few minutes further along the road from the Marbella Football Center, the attractive surroundings of La Quinta Football Pitches formed the venue for Pucela taking on the newly-promoted island side.

Having pulled off a dramatic comeback in their playoff final against Deportivo La Coruña last season, confidence is high in the Mallorca camp and the energy was clear in the side’s approach to this match. The men from Palma have had an extremely active transfer window so far this summer and handed starting places to new arrivals Lumor Agbenyenu, Josep Señé, and Aleíx Febas, while fellow additions Aleksandar Sedlar, Álex Alegría, Pablo Chavarría and Igor Zlatanovic began the match on the bench. Febas tucked in to play just behind Ante Budimir to support the loan striker.

For Real Valladolid, manager Sergio fielded an entirely different starting eleven from the line-up which began the 2-1 loss to another promoted side, Granada, on Friday evening. Javi Sánchez saw his first action since arriving on loan from Real Madrid Castilla last month as he was named in the initial line-up and Diego Alende’s performances in preseason to this point earned the 21-year-old defender his first start.

The match began well for Real Valladolid and only ten minutes had passed when Alende opened the scoring when he rose to head home a corner kick from Míchel.

Sergi Guardiola grabbed Pucela’s second shortly before the half-hour mark when he converted a good cross from the right by Sandro.

Things looked to be going well for Sergio’s side, but in the dying moments of the half Budimir hauled his team back into contention with a fine header to half the deficit.

The second half began with two changes in the Blanquivioleta back four. Nacho replaced the goalscorer Alende and took up his customary left-back role. This saw Fede Barba move to left centre-back to accommodate this move and he formed the partnership in the middle with Joaquín who was brought on for Sánchez.

Mallorca grew into the match as the second half progressed and José Antonio Caro had to be alert to deny midfielder Lago Junior from levelling the scores less than ten minutes after the restart. However, los Bermellones were awarded a penalty as a result of a foul by Antoñito. Salva Sevilla celebrated his recent contract extension by stepping up and making no mistake from the penalty spot to tie the score at two goals apiece in the 71st minute.

The immediate response from Sergio was to make numerous changes; Mohamed Salisu, Óscar Plano, Jorge De Frutos, Javi Moyano, Waldo, Enes Ünal, Álvaro Aguado and Rubén Alcaraz all entered the fray in place of Barba, Guardiola, Pablo Hervías, Antoñito, Toni Villa, Sandro, Míchel and Fede San Emetorio respectively. However, there was little to threaten the Mallorca goal. Alacaraz had a free-kick which was saved easily and Ünal saw his shot from within the area deflected with two minutes to play.

The final whistle ended with perhaps Vicente Moreno being the happier of the two managers. His side showed that they were more than capable of competing with their new top-division compatriots and the two sides will meet in league action in November at the Estadio José Zorrilla. We wish them well on their return to La Liga!

Mallorca go on to challenge Getafe in their next preseason match on Wednesday, while Real Valladolid will duel with rivals Sporting Gijón a day later in Palencia.

MALLORCA:

Manolo Reina; Joan Sastre, Xisco Campos (Capt.), Antonio Raíllo, Lumor Agbenyenu; Josep Señé, Salva Sevilla, Aleix Febas, Dani Rodríguez, Lago Junior; Ante Budimir.

Substitutes: Miquel Parera, Fran Gámez, Prada, Aleksandar Sedlar, Pierre Cornud, Moyita, Álex Alegría, Pablo Chavarría, Igor Zlatanović, Enzo Lombardo.

REAL VALLADOLID:

José Antonio Caro; Fede Barba (Salisu 71’), Javi Sánchez (Joaquín 46’), Diego Alende (Nacho 46’), Antoñito (Javi Moyano 71’); Toni Villa (Waldo 71’), Míchel (Capt.), Fede San Emetorio (Rubén Alcaraz 71’), Pablo Hervías (Jorge De Frutos 71’); Sandro (Enes Ünal 71’), Sergi Guardiola (Óscar Plano 71’).

Image: www.realvalladolid.es