Valencia lost a great opportunity, against a Mallorca that has run out of goals in the League, to achieve a victory that would ensure salvation and now, after losing 1-0, faces the last two days of the League with relegation just two points. On Sunday they will receive Espanyol in a crucial duel to find out the outcome at the bottom of the table and will close the season, seven days later, at the 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, without many incentives, it lowered its revolutions. Valencia still has the threat of relegation, but it seemed that, after a very unpleasant 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 stadium on fire in the fight against Madrid— appeared much more languid in Son Moix than four days ago.
The mess was still going on and just before the game, while the two teams posed behind a banner, promoted by the CSD, the RFEF and LaLiga, which read “Racists, get out of football”, Mouctar Diakhaby, black defender of the Valencia, decided to stand out and not appear in the photo. A decision that has been interpreted as a protest for feeling aggrieved: the Franco-Guinean defender denounced two seasons ago having been the victim of racist insults by Cala during a Cádiz-Valencia match.
Both sides saw the minutes fall without suffering, but also without worrying. Two blunt teams that seemed to wake up at the end of the first half. Valencia, who left without Cavani -he still does not score in 2023- or Kluivert (the day before they broke into his home while his wife was at home), barely had the lashes of Javi Guerra, each day more established in the eleven.
A failure in the clearance of the Mallorcan defense left Diego López in an excellent situation to score. But the youth squad’s semi-miss shot, the scorer against Madrid, ruined the best chance for Baraja’s team. Mallorca felt threatened for the first time and, although Javier Aguirre had cornered Kang-In in the left lane, he woke up and began to create more danger. Amath had it almost at the end of the first half, although he passed something similar to Diego López in the other area and shot loosely when he was alone near the penalty spot.
The Mexican coach understood that the experiment had been a failure and brought Kang-In closer to the area, where he is unbalancing. Valencia, however, seemed not to be aware that Son Moix was the ideal field to secure their final salvation. He did not dare to go head-on for Mallorca. He lacked courage.
Baraja gave the last half hour to Kluivert. He needed it because his 11 players were not biting and Mallorca was taking control, a dominance that they raised to the scoreboard with Muriqi’s goal, which he scored with a header after a manual cross from Kang-In from the area where he scores the goals. differences.
From that 64th minute, everything was rushed in Valencia, which saw the tide of relegation rise again. Baraja advanced his lines and refreshed the eleven with the changes, but he continued without finding the spaces. Kang-In, on the other hand, found himself with the perfect setting to show off before his former team. But Valencia had Kluivert and with him the chances always end up coming. The best was his shot that Rajkovic saved with a great intervention. Valencia did not give more of itself.
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