The marathon Spanish Segunda season is nearing its end as Deportivo de La Coruna host Mallorca in the first leg of their playoff finals series.
Deportivo head into the finals having defeated Malaga 5-2 on aggregate in the semifinals. The Galician club won both legs of the semifinal against their rival in impressive fashion. Deportivo won their second leg against Malaga, 1-0, despite being outshot 25-6 and out-possessed 59% to 41%.
Mallorca defeated promotion favourites Albacete 2-0 in the first leg of their semifinals series. Despite a 1-0 defeat away in the second leg, Mallorca advanced to the finals against Deportivo thanks to aggregate.
⚽️ Passa a passa seguim avançant🎯 Ja pensam en el pròxim REPTE!#MatchDayPlayoff ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/rykc5mZxAn— RCD Mallorca (@RCD_Mallorca) June 17, 2019
⚽️ Passa a passa seguim avançant🎯 Ja pensam en el pròxim REPTE!#MatchDayPlayoff ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/rykc5mZxAn
Deportivo de La Coruna are unbeaten in eight of their last nine fixtures heading into the finals. That includes three straight victories and two of those saw Depor keep clean sheets.
Forward Quique has tallied 16 Segunda goals this season to lead Deportivo in scoring. Carlos Fernandez has added a further eight. The duo scored 24 of the team’s 50 goals in the league.
The Galicians are built on defence as they allowed just 32 scores against them. It was the third lowest number of goals conceded in the Segunda during the regular season. Thirty matches in all competitions have ended in under 2.5 goals for Depor.
Mallorca’s defence was nearly as good as Deportivo de La Coruna’s backline. The Islanders conceded just 0.88 goals per match during the Segunda season. They impressively defeated Albacete at home 2-0 in the last round of the promotion playoffs. Goals could be in short supply on Thursday night.
Thirty-two Mallorca matches in all competitions ended in under 2.5 goals this season. The team scored 53 times in the Segunda and averaged 1.3 goals per game.
Forward Junior Lago leads Mallorca in scoring with 11 goals. Ariday Cabrera chipped in a further seven strikes for the Islanders.
The home team won both matches between Deportivo de La Coruna and Mallorca during the Segunda season. Mallorca took the spoils 1-0 in January before Depor returned the favour May, 1-0. The teams’ games in 2019 were their first in five seasons after spending years in different divisions.
Thursday’s Segunda finals first leg at the Estadio Municipal de Riazor will be close and cagey. Both sides are defensive and pick their spots when they attack.
The first leg of the Segunda finals should end with under 2.5 goals scored as the sides play out a score draw. They will need to wait for the second leg in Mallorca to decide which side will win promotion back to La Liga.