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Real Mallorca 1 - Levante 1 Real Mallorca snatched a late equaliser against last season’s Second Division winners Levante as the rain lashed down on the Son Moix on Sunday afternoon. Just 12,694 hardy souls swathed in raincoats and armed with umbrellas made the effort to turn up. The weather, the kick-off time (2pm) and El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona starting early at 4.15 conspired to keep many at home, especially families with children. The adverse conditions affected the first half, making the pitch slippery, which caused lots of passes to go astray. The sides came into the match with identical stats, including goal difference, and it was easy to see why, in the early stages, both sets of players cancelled each other out. The visitors sprang into life with a “jammy” goal scored against the run of play in the 22nd minute. The ball was pinging around our penalty area, with the normally reliable Mallorca defence failing to clear a loose ball. It broke to Eyong who slotted the ball home in what was Levante’s first shot on target. Mallorca responded well after going behind as we created multiple chances, all of which failed to find the net. Our teenage sensation, 19-year-old Jan Virgili, was a constant threat to the Levante rear guard and was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet on a couple of occasions. Both Mateo Joseph and Sergi Darder came within a whisker of equalising, but Levante’s Australian goalkeeper Matt Ryan was in top form. With many Mallorca fans, me included, beginning to start shivering as darkness arrived, the rain continued to pour down as parts of the Son Moix pitch began to flood. Finally, in the 79th minute, Levante’s resolve was broken with a wonderful goal. Pablo Maffeo collected the ball on the right flank, cut inside and hit a worldy from just outside the penalty box, which flew in off the crossbar. A stunning goal that drove the Son Moix diehards wild. Towards the end, coach Arrasate made some strange substitutions, taking off goal threats Muriqi and Virgili for local players Antonio Sanchez and Marc Domenech. Then, with time running out, a Raillo header grazed Levante’s goal frame. The visitors then broke away and nearly nicked all three points in the 94th minute, but for the brilliance of Leo Roman in the Mallorca goal. All in all this was a good performance from Arrasate’s men in terrible conditions, and in the end a draw was a fair result. Both teams move onto nine points with Mallorca extending their unbeaten run at home. Next La Liga game is away at Real Betis at 9pm next Sunday (November 2).
