In the fifth episode of “12 Matches, 12 Opportunities”, we take a closer look at the home victory against Rayo Vallecano – the team’s second in a row – through previously unseen footage and the accounts of two key players from that match: David López and Jan Virgili.
A victory that was further rounded off by a clean sheet and a record broken by Vedat Muriqi, who became the all-time top scorer in RCD Mallorca’s history.
Victory and individual performance
“Whenever you beat Madrid, one of the best teams in the world, you might be tempted to get overconfident, but in the end it’s just three points like any other,” explains López, who started the match.
“It had been a year and a half since we’d won two games in a row, and we kept a clean sheet. I think this has to give us a huge confidence boost ahead of the match against Valencia,” says Virgili, reflecting on the win.
Regarding his individual performance, our centre-back says he is personally “very happy” because he feels he “played the game I wanted to play”.
For his part, the Catalan winger, who scored his first goal in the top flight, admits that he ‘got a weight off his shoulders’ with that goal and that ‘now that the floodgates have opened’, he hopes ‘more’ goals will follow.
Virgili also explains that the last month and a half has been “a bit tough” for him, although he is aware that football “has its ups and downs”. Furthermore, he believes that “spending time on the bench” will make him “a better player and more mature.”
The key touch provided by Martín Demichelis
“I think Demichelis is a manager who has really tapped into the emotional side of things. I think he’s managed to hit the right note where we needed it. He’s a man with a lot of character, a lot of enthusiasm, and a real desire to showcase his football and put his ideas into practice,” says López on the role of the Mallorca manager.
Valencia and the importance of the fans
Virgili believes that “Rayo’s win hasn’t decided anything either”: “We have to keep going, because in the end we’re two points above the relegation zone and if we let our guard down, there’ll be trouble. So, we can’t give up and must keep going flat out,” he adds.
López takes the same line, as he considers La Liga to be ‘extremely tight’ because the teams at the bottom are winning, although he admits that ‘anything that brings in three points and secures back-to-back wins is a tremendous energy boost, both for the team and for the fans’.
A potential victory against Valencia, RCD Mallorca’s next opponents, “would be a statement of intent”, according to the Mallorcan striker. “And I believe that if we all stick together and the fans continue to support us as they have done so far, we’ll definitely pull it off,” says the Catalan footballer on the matter.
‘The fans are proving to be absolutely vital. You can see that at home games and we need them. Without them it’s much harder, and with them we’re always in this together,’ López asserts.
