Valencia missed a huge chance against Mallorca, who are without goals in the league, to secure a victory that would ensure salvation and now, after a 1-0 defeat, face the last two days of the league with one relegation of only two points. On Sunday they will host Espanyol in a crucial clash to find out the bottom end and end the season seven days later at Benito Villamarín, a bad place to arrive urgently.
The game had too many minutes without tension. Mallorca is saved and it has been a long time since it scaled back its revolutions without much incentive. Valencia are still at risk of relegation, but that appeared to be the case against Madrid after a very uncomfortable week due to the Mestalla incident with Vinicius – with too much friction in the offices and in the press and without the support of a burning stadium in the fight – seemed much more sluggish in Son Moix than four days ago.
The chaos continued and just before the game, the two teams posed behind a banner promoted by the CSD, the RFEF and LaLiga that read: “Racists, get out of football”, Mouctar Diakhaby, black defender of the Valencia She decided to stand out and not appear in the photo. A decision interpreted as a protest of grief: the Franco-Guinean defender denounced two years ago that he had been the victim of racial slurs from Cala during a match between Cadiz and Valencia.
Both sides watched the minutes pass without suffering, but also without worrying. Two dull teams who seemed to wake up at the end of the first half. Valencia, who left without Cavani – who was still not scoring in 2023 – or Kluivert (the day before they broke into his house while his wife was at home) barely had the lashes of Javi Guerra, who was finding himself more in the league every day Eleven established.
A defensive mistake by the Mallorcan defense gave Diego López an excellent goal situation. But the youth team’s half-miss to score against Madrid ended Baraja’s team’s best chance. Mallorca felt threatened for the first time and despite having cornered Kang-In in the left lane, Javier Aguirre woke up and started creating even more danger. Amath almost had it at the end of the first half, although something similar happened to Diego López in the other area and he finished easily when he was alone near the penalty spot.
Realizing the experiment had failed, the Mexican trainer brought Kang-In closer to the area where he was losing his balance. However, Valencia seemed unaware that Son Moix was the ideal field for the ultimate rescue. He did not dare to go directly to Mallorca. He lacked the courage.
Baraja gave Kluivert the last half hour. He needed it because his 11 players weren’t snappy and Mallorca took control, a dominance they put on the scoreboard with Muriqi’s goal, which he scored with a header following a manual cross from Kang-In from the area where he scores the goals. Differences.
From the 64th minute onwards everything was in high gear in Valencia, causing the relegation trend to increase again. Baraja improved his lines and renewed the eleven with the changes, but he continued without finding the gaps. Kang-In, on the other hand, found himself in the perfect environment to show off against his former team. But Valencia had Kluivert and there are always opportunities with him. The best shot was his shot, which Rajkovic parried with a great intervention. Valencia didn’t say more.
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