Mallorca-Villarreal

By: Jeremy | May 29th, 2009

First off a big congratulations to Barcelona for winning the Champions League. Even when I was ripping them in my previews I stated they would win the Champions League. No real surprise. The speed and athleticism of Barca is just so much better then Manchester Uniteds. Barca plays to win. Man U plays not to lose.

That being said, we still have one final weekend of games in LaLiga. Mallorca will finish 9th in the table no matter the results so there is truly nothing to play for in the final game. Unlike beating Barca or going to Madrid for a game in the Bernabeu, a home game against Villarreal, with nothing at all to play for, is a lot different. The overall passion and effort wont be there like it would be in games that mean something or games in any circumstances against the big two clubs. I am sure Manzano will trot out a mix of players to give some experience where needed, but it will be more of a festive match to again celebrate survival, which in itself should not be something to celebrate as it should be expected.

Villarreal still has something to play for however. A win against Mallorca and a loss by Atletico will see them jump back into the Champions League final spot. For all the additions they made this year, including our own Ibagaza, it will be disappointing to them if they dont make the top four. To expect Atletico to lose at home to Almeria, who has nothing to play for, is tough so it looks like Villarreal will be playing second tier european football next year.

While Mallorca fans can be happy that we have beaten the top two teams in LaLiga the past two weeks, fans need to get away from that as those games were meaningless. We need to get ready for the offeason and focus must immediately begin on keeping players and adding some talent rather then do a complete overhaul hoping it can produce a european birth. The talent on this years team is arguably top 6-8, but with it being a basically new team, a ninth place finish was about the best we could hope for and give the team credit for getting together and solidifying their position sooner rather then later. At some point we have to improve and stabilize the club as we seem to be stuck as a mid tier LaLiga team, which might be fine to some, but not to me. There is no reason why we cant challenge for a top six position every year.

While we can discuss the necessity for stability before improvement in the offseason, we have this one final game to play. While its always good to play spoiler, I think we end up giving this game away.

No matter the result, lets welcome our boy Ibagaza back to Palma and salute him for what he has done for our club in past years.

Prediction

Mallorca 1-3 Villarreal