Isco lowers the smoke in Mallorca | Soccer | Sports
It was not a pretty game. Quite the contrary. From this match that showed so little, a huge Isco emerged, becoming the leader of Betis and once again named best player of the match. Málaga fought and, above all, had a successful time against a Mallorca team who seemed a little hungover after reaching the Cup semi-final. Five months later, on the first day of La Liga, Betis won away again. at home, thanks to Isco, a great success from Altimira and very remarkable group work. Mallorca, who had gone nine matches without losing at Son Moix, fell quite well, although they had a few clear chances thanks to Abdón Prats.
0
Predrag Rajkovic, Valjent (Dani, min. 57), Raíllo, Lato (Jaume Costa, min. 79), Giovanni González, Nastasic, Manu Morlanes (Javi Llabrés, min. 79), Samuel Costa (Omar Mascarell, min. 36) , Darder, Abdón Prats and Cyle Larin (Muriqi, min. 57)
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Rui Silva, Abner, Sokratis, Héctor Bellerín, Pezzella (Ricardo Visus, min. 45), Johnny, Luiz Henrique, Sergi Altimira, Isco Alarcón, Assane Diao and Fekir (Willian José, min. 66)
Goals 0-1 min. 46: Sergi Altimira.
Arbitrator Javier Iglesias Villanueva
Yellow cards Lato (min. 75), Rui Silva (min. 78) and Jaume Costa (min. 94)
Betis’ victory has a lot of merit and allows it to move closer to sixth place in Europe while healing its wounds: it has 12 injured and yesterday the transfer of Borja Iglesias to Bayer Leverkusen was completed.
Betis arrived in Mallorca in need after losing 2-4 to Barcelona on the final day. The Verdiblancos, a little soft, supported their football, as almost always, at Isco, in great form. And also Fekir, who played as a striker and is gradually returning to his best level after his serious injury. I expected a strong Mallorca at home, where they had not lost in the last nine league matches (seven draws and two defeats). The locals, moreover, faced the clash with high morale after qualifying for the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. Mallorca were a little better in a first half that was defined, however, by a superb shot from Altimira who, in the 46th minute, beat Rajkovic from outside the area. Abdón Prats sent a ball over the crossbar with a good header, but the one who won at halftime was the green and white team.
Pezzella was injured at Betis and Visus, a central defender from the reserve team, came on. Mallorca did not take advantage, without ideas, with Darder quite weak. Isco showed himself brilliantly to maintain possession of the ball in the face of attacks from certain Mallorca players who had to surrender to their hierarchy. Only Abdón Prats had a clear chance. Betis, well placed in defense, repelled numerous balls into the Mallorca area. “We had the ball more and we were creating more chances,” but it wasn’t the day, Aguirre said. “They came with great confidence after eliminating Girona, but we applied ourselves very well. We took the advantage and were able to keep this goal unlike other matches. We were very dedicated,” said Betis coach Manuel Pellegrini.
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