0-0: UD Almería's point proves too little against RCD Mallorca
The Rojiblancos did not find the back of the net throughout the full 90 minutes and created few chances against the resilient Bermellones, who could have won the match with two clear opportunities, one of them in added time
UD Almería had to settle for goalless stalemate against a resilient RCD Mallorca. They desperately needed to win in order to reduce the gap at the bottom of the table towards league safety, but it was a match in which the Bermellones made the game extremely difficult for the Rojiblancos as they whipped in more chances and more shots on goal than the Indálicos, who did not trouble goalkeeper Rajkovic between the sticks. The guests squandered a clear-cut chance in the first half and in the second-half added time, another one in front of an empty goal to have won the game. The encounter ended with the points shared (0-0).
The starting XI remained unchanged to the one that took on Atlético de Madrid last weekend at the Cívitas Metropolitano Stadium, both players and formation were exactly the same with Maximiano in goal; a defence of three centre-backs César Montes, Edgar and Chumi; a couple of wingbacks Pozo and Akieme; in the midfield, Robertone and Lopy; Embarba, Arribas and Léo Baptistão joining forces up front to score.
While there were no goals in the first half, there was most certainly no dearth of entertainment and end-to-end activity from both outfits. Over the opening half, RCD Mallorca would dominate by cranking up the pressure and fashioning big chances like the one former-Rojiblanco Samú Costa spurned. The Bermellones, after this opportunity, continued to make it really difficult for the Indálicos who timidly began to approach the visitors' box around the 40th minute, but without any major dangerous threats. Plenty of endeavour from the hosts but no reward yet and they went in scoreless at the break (0-0).
The second period kicked off with a triple change; Lopy, Robertone and Chumi were benched as Mr Garitano brought on Ramazani, Melero and Baba. With this substitutions, the hosts came out with more attacking capacity and during the first minutes after the restart, they made their presence known in the final third, however, no play was successful enough to be able to get ahead. RCD Mallorca reacted and weakened that initial momentum by UD Almería so, from that moment on, the match entered a phase without a clear dominator, with a UD Almería squad that went the extra mile and with a Palma de Mallorca team that came out looking fearsome in counter-attacks.
The home team pushed forward as they looked for ways to unlock the guests' solid defence. It was absolutely necessary to add three points to their tally and the encounter had to be won as head coach Gaizka Garitano said in the pre-match presser, but there was no way to beat the keeper. Furthermore, it could have been worse since opponent Llabrés was close to putting the islanders in front in added time through a very clear play into an empty goal, but he narrowly missed.
It seems there is no way to break their hoodoo. On the bright side, this is the second clean sheet kept by UD Almería. On the downside, it was an unsatisfying goalless draw since the Indálicos remain winless this 2023/24 season.
