Mallorca is playing impressive at their ONO stadium this season. They recorded 5 wins in that many games. Although they have a lot worse record on the road, their 100% score in front of the home fans brought them to the 6th place in Primera. One of the victims in those 5 wins was their today’s opponent, Valladolid, who was defeated by 3:0 at the end of September. In the first leg in the Cup, Valladolid outplayed them and won at home by 2:1, and that result can be considered as very solid for Mallorca, as any comfortable win will take them into the next round. Coach Manzano is very optimistic. He says the squad is playing very good, especially mentioning the offense that’s regularly scoring goals. They won’t be able to count on their best scorer Aduriz tonight, due to an injury. However, Manzano is fully confident that the team he’ll field tonight will successfully fight Valladolid off.
Tough task
Valladolid’s players were pretty unsatisfied after the first leg against Mallorca. They were a lot better side, but failed to record a big advantage that would enable them to play calmly in the rematch. A goal they conceded came after a very suspicious penalty, so they were rightfully angry at the referee. Now, they will have a very tough task at the ONO stadium. Not only they will be facing inhospitable hosts, but the circumstances related to their squad were very worrying. Jacobo, Sisi and Luis Prieti won’t play due to injuries, while Bosnian international Medunjanin also won’t be on the squad, and 3 players will be rested due to intensive playing time lately (Pedro Lopez, Marcos and Canobbio). Coach Jose Luis Mendilibar says the situation is pretty tough, but believes the rest of the players will be good enough and put up enough effort for a good result.
Advantage to the hosts
It all points out to yet another Mallorca’s win in front of their fans. Beside the outstanding form they’ve displayed in the first 5 games at ONO, a pretty weakened squad for the visitors will also make their job easier. Although it’s Cup where the surprises are very often and possible, I believe that won’t be the case at this match, and Mallorca will win and progress to the next round.
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Prediction:
Tip: 1
Odd: 1.75
Bookie: Bet365
Stake: 7 /10
Tipster: Kather
