Albacete host Mallorca in the second leg of their Spanish Segunda promotion playoff semi-final on Sunday. The Spanish Segunda season is a marathon and the two teams are now just two games away from possible promotion.
Mallorca drew first blood in their semi-final tie on Thursday with a 2-0 win at home. It was a fantastic win with Mallorca tallying eight shots on target during the 90-minute affair while holding Albacete.
Albacete kept 58% of possession against Mallorca in the playoff semi-final first leg. Despite their possesson advantage Mallorca’s defence prevented Albacete from registering a shot on target.
Mallorca goalkeeper Manolo Reina faced just seven shots with none of them landing on target. Albacete will need to do better in front of goal but it isn’t just poor shooting that let them down.
Albacete allowed Mallorca to score their second goal in the 89th minute of the first leg. That late goal could be the strike that sees Mallorca through to the promotion final against either Deportivo La Coruna or Malaga.
Manager Luis Miguel Ramis’ side lost form at exactly the wrong time of the season. Albacete have lost three straight games with their defence conceding at least two goals in each. Two of those three games saw them held to clean sheets.
Mallorca finished the regular season in far better shape. The team are undefeated in their last three matches. Mallorca kept clean sheets in two of those games and scored three times in 270 minutes of football.
Thursday’s first leg result flew in the face of Albacete’s and Mallorca’s recent matches against each other. Albacete had won three straight matches against the Islanders.
Matches between the two teams are typically low scoring. Eight of their last 11 games ended with under 2.5 goals scored.
Sunday’s fixture should be another lacking in goals. Mallorca’s defence was solid in the first game and manager Vincente Moreno will have little reason to change his tactics.
An away goal would seal the semi-final win for Mallorca and Albacete will be conscious of getting hit on the counter-attack.
Albacete should dominate possession once more and see a lot of the ball as they camp out around the Mallorca 18-yard box. Albacete need goals to overcome their promotion semi-final deficit.
Despite dominating possession and their recent league encounters, Albacete will only manage a score draw against Mallorca. The Islanders will progress to the promotion final as under 2.5 goals are scored.