Our pre-season preparations ended with a 1-0 victory at CD Lugo courtesy of Ivan Bravo’s first senior goal as we headed into next week’s Segunda División curtain raiser on a high note.
Luis García Plaza made two changes to the side that rounded off our training camp in Murcia with a 2-0 win over CD Castellón. Aleix Febas replaced Salva Sevilla in midfield, while Abdón Prats was preferred to Alex Alegría as the central striker. Ante Budimir, Martin Valjent and Aleksandar Trajkovski were unavailable for selection due to international commitments with their respective countries at the UEFA Nations League’s commencement.
Chances were few and far between throughout the opening exchanges, with Febas’s wild swing over the bar from the edge of the box the closest we came to putting ourselves in front despite a dominance in possession.
Joan Sastre attempted to reproduce his wonder strike from the previous friendly fixture against CD Castellón on the half-hour mark, but his effort from 25-yards went high and wide by some distance.
An in-swinging corner courtesy of Dani Rodríguez caused enough mayhem for Stoichkov to find space for an acrobatic volley at goal, although his marker did just enough to unbalance the striker and force the attempt to loop out of harm’s way.
We looked destined to head into the break on level terms, but Ivan Bravo had other ideas when his deflected strike from 25 yards caught Ander Cantero off guard and found the bottom corner to give us a slender advantage following a competitive opening 45 minutes.
Despite the hosts looking dangerous upon the restart, Dani Rodríguez was inches away from doubling our lead just before the hour when he connected with Febas’ teasing chip following some fine footwork to create space for the centre.
The introduction of Luka Romero, Alex Alegría and Antonio Sanchez changed the dynamic of our forward line with 25 minutes left on the clock yet we would remain frustrated by a resolute CD Lugo defence for the remainder of the match.
A fine intervention from Manolo Reina with just over five minutes left on the clock would ensure we held onto our lead, and although having had little to do for a majority of the friendly, the goalkeeper spread himself well to deny a number of bodies during a goalmouth scramble.
We will now turn attention to our Segunda División opener against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday, September 13th.
RCD Mallorca: Manolo Reina, Joan Sastre (77’), Raíllo, Russo (77’), Bravo (64’), Baba (64’), Febas (69’), Dani Rodríguez (77’), Lago Júnior (64’), Stoichkov, Abdón (64’)
Substitutes: Miquel Parera, Alberto Redondo (77’), Carlos Quintana (77’), Rafel Obrador (64’), Antonio Sánchez (64’), Luka Romero (64’), Salva Sevilla (69’), Álex Alegría (64’), Víctor (77’)
CD Lugo: Cantero, Marcelo, Hugo Rama, Carrillo, Pedro, Campabadal, Martín, Marcos, Quindimil, Dani Vidal, Morais
Substitutes: Varo, Diego Alende, Pita, Herrera, Seoane, Barrero, Borja D, Canella, Sebas, Iriome, Julen, Alex Rey, Escobar, Castellano, Manu Núñez
Goals: Iván Bravo, 1-0 (45’)
RCD Mallorca:
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CD Lugo:
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