Muriqi the key as Mallorca lock out Atletico in shock victory
In their final league contest before the World Cup break, Mallorca took to the field in search of another scalp after beating Villarreal last time out, and smelt blood against an Atletico side without a win in four.
A pleasant evening on the Spanish island witnessed Mallorca initially contain their visitors well, stamping authority on the contest by stepping up the pitch and suffocating service to the strike pairing of Alvaro Morata and Antoine Griezmann.
Muriqi had scored a whopping 58% of Mallorca’s league goals coming into tonight - the highest percentage of any LaLiga player for one team 0 and he was on target again, as another wave of Pirates pressure resulted in the striker tapping into an open net after some calamitous Atletico defending.
Morata thought he had given his side a near-instant response, but saw his goal disallowed for offside, and despite that appearing to jump-start his side into life, they were unable to find an equaliser in a disappointing first-half display.
Despite Atletico enforcing themselves on the contest after the interval, with Simeone’s words likely still ringing in their ears, Mallorca looked nothing like a side with only one victory from their previous six home games.
They were seemingly content with soaking up attacks before hitting their visitors on the counter, and Lee Kang-in was causing particularly regular bouts of trouble for opposing right-back Nahuel Molina, who had his hands tied due to a caution received when fouling the South Korean in the first half.
Mallorca were playing with ‘atomic orange’ fire in the closing stages, and incessant Atletico pressure had them scrambling at the back on several occasions.
But as much as the visitors looked fluorescent, the Mallorca defence proved effervescent, though they still relied on a stunning Predrag Rajkovic save in the final minutes much to the bemusement of Morata, who must have thought he had scored.
Overall, this is a potentially damaging defeat for Atletico, who are currently threatening to finish outside LaLiga's top-four for the first time since 2011/12.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Vedat Muriqi (Mallorca)
