We played in front of fans for the first time in over nine months as a 1-0 victory at Segunda B side CD Guijuelo courtesy of Abdón Prats’ second-half strike kickstarted our Copa del Rey campaign.
Luis García Plaza warned he would rotate his side in his pre-match press conference and made 10 changes to the starting XI which beat CD Leganes 1-0 in the Segunda División a few days prior. Antonio Sánchez was the only player to retain his place in the team, with the most notable changes being Miquel Parera’s first appearance this season at the expense of Manolo Reina, while Dani Rodríguez’s injury permitted Aleksandar Trajkovski to make his return from a hamstring setback.
Differing regulations between LaLiga and RFEF allows fans to be in attendance for Copa del Rey fixtures, as a sold-out Estadio Municipal Luis Ramos crowd watched on as we applied early pressure on artificial turf with Iddrisu Baba unable to get a wild effort on target.
Alex Alegría was first to test Molina when he climbed highest to meet Lago Junior’s cross in the 10th minute, although his header proved to be a routine stop for the hosts’ goalkeeper.
CD Guijuelo managed to weather the storm and grew into the game, showing why they had been unbeaten at home for almost a year with resolute defending which proved difficult to breakdown despite our best efforts.
Trajkovski’s whipped free-kick sailing over the bar in the 38th minute would be the closest we would come to finding an opener before the break, while Parera was called into action on two occassions before heading into the dressing room level.
The restart picked up from the previous 45 minutes as possession remained tightly locked in midfield as it wasn’t until past the hour mark the second half saw its first effort at goal drift wide courtesy of Antonio Pino.
Abdón Prats’ 69th minute introduction would have an immediate impact on matters as just four minutes later the striker launched an explosive effort from outside the box into the bottom corner on his favoured left foot.
Space opened up as the hosts chased a late equaliser, and while Luka Romero came close to adding a second, we held onto our lead to head into the second round of the Copa del Rey.
RCD Mallorca: Miquel Parera, Fran Gámez, Russo, Sedlar, B. Oliván, Baba (90’), A. Sánchez, Murilo (69’), Trajkovski (69’), Lago Junior (81’), Alegría (81’)
Substitutes: Reina, Leo, Valjent (90’), Cufré (81’), Sastre, Febas (81’), Ruiz De Galarreta, Mboula, Abdón (69’), Luka (69’)
CD Guijuelo: Molina, Parra (77’), Razvan, Carlos, Abraham, Kamal, Deco, Jose Martínez (66’), Pino, Kike Pina, Damián Zamorano
Substitutes: Sarkauskas, Pica, Cristóbal (66’), Eizmendi (77’), Andrés, Spahiu, Adrián
Goals: Abdón Prats, 0-1 (73’)
