Defeat in Mallorca
Simeone's team lost by the minimum at the Visit Mallorca Estadi after Muriqi's goal in the first half. Despite the disadvantage, our team tried to equalise in the second half, but they came up against the great work of the Mallorcan goalkeeper Rajkovic.
Mallorca witnessed the last LaLiga match before the World Cup break. Simeone's team tried from the first minute to get the three points to return to the Champions League places. A good start by our team was overshadowed by the Mallorca goal after a quarter of an hour of play. The home side took advantage of a second move that Muriqi finished to put them ahead. The Red &White team did not give up and kept their aim of levelling the score between the sticks. Álvaro Morata equalised after a great run behind the Balearic defence and a better finish later on. However, the VAR disallowed the Atleti goal for an unlawful position by the '19'. Simeone looked to shake up the game with the introduction of Correa on the half-hour mark, but the scoreboard remained unaffected in the fifteen minutes before the break.
Our side dominated the second half and poured forward in the Mallorca half of the pitch. The different changes gave more freshness to our team with the return to the pitch of Koke and Lemar. Likewise, Reguilón made his debut as a Red & White player when he came on in the 68th minute.
The passing of the minutes and the offensive control of the game translated into chances in favour of our team. The clearest chance came in the 86th minute of the match. Griezmann's pinpoint cross behind the home defence found Morata once again. The striker's shot was met by Rajković, who saved a last-ditch handball to prevent the Red &White equaliser. The clash in Mallorca ended with the team pouring into the Mallorca area, but Axel Witsel's bicycle kick was blocked by the home defence. Our team now faces the last match before the World Cup against SD Almazán this Saturday at 10pm in the Nuevo Estadio Los Pajaritos, corresponding to the First Round of the Copa del Rey.
