26/02/2006
2-1. A setback in the League

López Caro was facing a nice challenge, beating his ex-superior, in Mallorca, Gregorio Manzano. For this reason, he moved around his team and brought on Raúl Bravo in place of the injured Woodgate, and Baptista for the limping Guti. Only victory would count, as Barcelona had won in Zaragoza, and as Valencia only got one point in Mestalla and the second place was up for grabs. He had to beat a Mallorca team who had absent players, but with their partial recuperation with a victory in Málaga, though they were still in the relegation zone.

Water, water, and more water fell on Son Moix, which saw the comfortable domination of the Whites during the first half of the game. Zidane and Baptista came back to bring the ball through with Robinho always looking to do damage from the wing. Ronaldo pressurized Prats, but he responded well (6th min). Little by little, the Balearic players improved in the game, more in terms of spirit than in playing, but Doni, coming in from the edge of the box almost gave Casillas a nasty surprise. Later it was Arango with a direct free kick which brushed the crossbar. López Caro asked for more movement and better options in attack, as there were clear gaps and all that was needed was to take advantage of them.

An implacable Sergio Ramos
And then Ramos made his appearance. He was doing an excellent job in defence, stopping Arango and Pisculichi, when he decided to take a starring role in attack. David Beckham, in a play that they had practiced a thousand times in Valdebebas, sent the ball to his head. The Seville player, majestic in his execution, put the Whites ahead (31st min). Half of the work had been done, but Mallorca, under classification pressure, were obliged to pressurize Casillas. The keeper, who in minute 35 beat his own best record for keeping goals out -357 minutes-, was shouting himself hoarse, as on two occasions Arango was on the pint of leveling the score in two counterattacks on the left of the Whites defence. They needed the halftime to recompose themselves, as despite having been superior, they had suffered. Ronaldo, almost in extra time, once again clashed with Prats.

The tie
This play finished off a first half that was marked by rapidity on the pitch, with a lot of slip ups by the players, and the superiority, albeit minimal, of Real Madrid. There was nothing much to speak of until minute 52. Then the dynamic of the game changed when Pisculichi transformed a penalty committed by Sergio Ramos –who with that booking will miss the derby - after an unfortunate play in defence which ended with the fall of Tuni. Son Moix livened up and spurred on the islanders. Now, the stars were Doni, Arango and company, who wanted to take advantage of their momentum to make a comeback in the game. Meanwhile, on the sideline, Raúl and Salgado were warming up.

López Caro kept on giving instructions, and it looked like his players had recovered from the blow. They put on pressure further up the pitch, there was better passing, and Prats saw his defence coming closer and closer to him. They didn't wait around. First Míchel came on in place of Beckham (63rd min), and later Raúl for Baptista (65th min), with Cassano warming up on the sideline. The pace of the game waned, at the expense of the Whites, who had to probe the local area more urgently. The rain worsened and started to take its toll. With fifteen minutes to play, Mallorca were only looking for gaps on the wings when the wingers went up to attack.

Arango scores in the middle of the downpour
Cassano was the last card for López Caro, who brought him on to play with three forwards… and Iturralde did not award a foul on Casillas and Jonás sent a clear chance to the post… which Arango followed up to get their second (80th min). The Italian nearly equalized with a centre-shot which went to the crossbar. Madrid wanted to win, but the game was in its dying moments. It was a setback in the League as Valencia increase their lead by a point (-2) and Barça by three (-10). Now, and with the break for internationals in the week, Madrid have to come back and win the derby on Saturday.

27.02.2006 07:03 +0300
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