Mallorca 1-1 Valencia: Primera Division Match Report

Mallorca 1-1 Valencia was goalless at half-time and shared 1-1 after it. Everything that happened in this match happened in the second period, and it happened in a fixture where a win for either side would have been worth considerably more than the point they took.

The table had them adjacent and both looking downwards. Valencia were 14th on 35 points from 31 matches with a goal difference of -12; Mallorca were 15th on 34 with -9. Below them sat Sevilla on 34, Alavés on 33, Elche on 32 and Levante on 29 — six clubs inside six points with seven rounds to play, and three of them due to go down.

Mallorca were the form side. They had won three of five, including 2-1 at home to Real Madrid and 3-0 over Rayo Vallecano in their previous match, with a 2-2 at Osasuna and a 1-2 at Elche as the other results. Valencia's five were more erratic: 3-2 at Alavés, 0-1 at Real Oviedo, 2-0 at Sevilla, 2-3 at home to Celta, 0-1 at Elche. Two defeats to sides in the relegation places is a poor recommendation for a team a point above them. The December meeting in Valencia had also finished 1-1.

Valencia moved to 36 points and a goal difference of -12; Mallorca to 35 with -9. The order between them held and the cluster underneath did not change shape, which is the least useful outcome for both. When six clubs are covered by six points, a draw between two of them is a round wasted by each.

Mallorca kept the better goal difference by three, which in a division where relegation is regularly decided on secondary criteria is not nothing. Their more significant number was the run: two straight home wins, one of them over Real Madrid, and now a point against a direct rival. Valencia had taken six points from five matches and had lost twice to sides below them in the same stretch. Both remained above the drop and neither had put distance between themselves and it.

Our pre-match call was Mallorca Win at 1.85. It failed, though the reasoning behind it was the sounder of the two available. Mallorca were the in-form side, playing at home, against opponents who had just lost at Elche and Real Oviedo — both in the bottom three. That is a legitimate case at 1.85. What it could not account for is the tightness of relegation six-pointers in April: teams in that cluster play not to lose, and a goalless first half between two of them is the most predictable thing on the card. Verdict: lost