Goals from Aleksandar Trajkovski and Stoichkov proved to be decisive in a 2-0 win against CD Tenerife as our pre-season preparations in Murcia herald its first victory.
Manager Luis García Plaza named a heavily altered starting XI following the 2-1 defeat to Levante UD just two days prior, opting for five changes. Miquel Parerra replaced Manolo Reina in goal, while Ivan Bravo was handed his first senior start in place of academy graduate Rafa Obrador in defence. Salva Sevilla and Martin Valjent watched on from the bench as Aleix Febas and Iddrisu Baba stepped into midfield, while Abdòn was preferred to Alex Alegría as the central striker.
The opening exchanges got off to a slow start as neither side were able to make the most of possession in the final third. The game’s first real opportunity came courtesy of a set-piece, and following a goal-line scramble with plenty of bodies in the box, CD Tenerife managed to clear the ball off the line before Dani Rodríguez volleyed a poor clearance over the bar in the 15th minute.
El Tete would then have a chance of their own to break the deadlock from a free-kick, although to the relief of Parera, a contested header sailed safely over his goal.
Moments before the half-hour mark, Luka Romero almost opened the scoring in style when he controlled a loose clearance with a stylish touch before blasting an acrobatic volley just wide of Adrián Ortolá’s far post.
Regular pauses for hydration in the south-east of Spain’s heat heralded intervals to re-group, and having almost immediately won a dangerous free-kick on the edge of the box upon the resumption of play, Abdón crashed a thumping effort against the bar.
Jacobo Gonzalez would have the final chance of the opening 45 minutes, but a routine stop from Parera meant we would head into the dressing level with the likes of Martin Valjent, Yannis Salibur, Aleksandar Trajkovski, Salva Sevilla and Alex Alegría warming up ahead of a second-half introduction.
Despite the host of changes adding a new dynamic upon the restart, it was a Tenerife counter-attack ending in a clever combination between Joselu and Jorge Padilla with the ball drifting wide of the post which proved to be the best chance of a subdued return to proceedings.
Parera later showed why he was one of the brightest talents to emerge from Son Bibiloni in recent years when he got down well to deny Joselu from the penalty spot after Bravo had been adjudged to have fouled in the box.
We looked certain to score when Salibur’s pull back to Trajkovski in the 69th minute forced Ortolá to produce a fine stop from point-blank range, before the loose ball fell to the feet of substitute Stoichkov who was unfortunate to only rattle the inside of the cross bar.
The forward showed a clean pair of heels to his marker as the clock edged towards full-time, and despite having done well to get behind the CD Tenerife defence, he pulled his effort wide of the far post.
Leaving it late to break the deadlock, some smooth footwork from Trajkovski and a rasping strike just inside the box left Ortolá with little hope of preventing the winger from finding the bottom corner in the 81st minute.
Stoichkov would put the icing on an encouraging performance four minutes later when his pace granted him time and space in behind to pick out the far corner and end hope of a potential comeback.
A well-deserved victory will see us now prepare for our final game of our pre-season training camp in Murcia against CD Castellón in three days’ time before heading back to Mallorca.
RCD Mallorca: Miquel Parera, Joan Sastre (45’), Raíllo (62’), Sedlar (62’), Bravo, Baba, Febas (45’), Dani Rodríguez (45’), Lago Júnior (62’), Luka (45’), Abdón Prats (45’)
Substitutes: Román, Reina, Quintana, Russo (62’), Salva Sevilla (45’), Martin Valjent, Álex Alegría (45’), Salibur (45’), Gámez, Trajkovski (45’), Antonio Sánchez, Víctor, Redondo (62’), Obrador, Budimir, Stoichkov (62’), Ruiz G
CD Tenerife: A. Ortolà, Alex Muñoz, C. Pomares, Aitor Sanz, Shashoua, Joselu, Moore, Jacobo, Sipcic, Javi Alonso, Jorge
Substitutes: Dani H, Víctor, Undabarrena, Alberto, Nahuel, Suso, Bermejo, Apeh, Ibrahima, Fede, Omar Jaiteh
Goals: Trajkovski, 1-0 (82’); Stoichkov, 2-0 (85’)
