Real Mallorca 2 – Osasuna 3

Reeling from their midweek drubbing by Real Madrid, Mallorca were looking to bounce back against fellow occupants of the LaLiga Santander midtable, Osasuna.

Hopes of doing this were swiftly dashed when an eighth-minute shot from the edge of the area by Osasuna left back José Ángel Valdés Díaz (known as Cote) flew past Dominik Greif in the Mallorca goal.

The visitors’ lead lasted only three minutes, Dani Rodríguez heading in the equaliser from a Salva Sevilla corner. A frenetic start to the match then saw Greif save midfielder Iñigo Pérez’s shot a minute later.

Mallorca’s suspect defence was being put to the test, and Oier Sanjurjo should have put Osasuna ahead on 32 minutes. But Mallorca finished the first half with a remarkable passage of play which saw Sergio Herrera denying Amath Ndiaye after he had sneaked past three defenders, Salva Sevilla having a shot, Herrera saving from Rodríguez and Lee Kang-in, and finally Fer Niño scoring Mallorca’s second.

The home side started the second half brightly but were stunned by a screamer of a free kick by Iñigo Pérez after 58 minutes that made it 2-2.

As full time approached and with both teams starting to run out of gas, Nacho Vidal’s 85th minute header almost snatched the win for Osasuna. Three minutes later, and Javi Martínez put the visitors ahead.

A real blow for Mallorca, but there were ten minutes of added time to go, and a lifeline came with a penalty award and a booking for Osasuna’s Unai García for a foul on Jaume Costa. But a VAR check led to the penalty being overturned because of a previous offside.

Mallorca threw everything they had left in the tank at Osasuna, including Greif coming up for a corner. But it wasn’t to be. An entertaining and pulsating game, but a disappointing result for Mallorca who now have eight points from seven matches.

Mallorca: Greif; Sastre, Valjent, Oliván, Costa; Sevilla (Galarreta 87), Baba; Lee (Lago Junior 57), D. Rodríguez, Amath (A. Rodríguez 87); Niño (Abdón 63).

Osasuna: Herrera; Areso (Vidal 83), Hernández (U. García 70), D. García, Cote (Sánchez 81); Moncayola; Martínez, Oier, Brasanac, Pérez (K. García 70); Ávila (R. García 70).

Attendance: 9,359.