Mallorca 3 - Alavés 1

Mallorca: Leo Franco; Cortés, Olaizola (Fernando Niño 85'), Nadal, Poli; Novo, Lozano, Ibagaza, Riera; Eto'o (Marcos 78'), Pandiani (Carlos 78'). 4-4-2.
Alavés: Dutruel; Geli, Karmona, Abelardo, Llorens (Ibon Begoña 62'); Turiel, Luis Helguera; Astudillo, Jordi Cruyff, Magno (Ilie 46'); Iván Alonso (Rubén Navarro 70'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Mallorca: No change / Alavés: Luis Helguera, Magno for Pablo, Ibon Begoña.

Goals:
1-0. 30. Pandiani. Headed past Dutruel following Novo cross from right.
2-0. 67. Ibagaza. Took Pandiani pass and ran on to shoot low past keeper.
3-0. 77. Pandiani (penalty). After striker himself brought down by Dutruel.
3-1. 92. Ilie. received square pass and rounded defender before shooting low.

Mallorca moved up level with second placed Valencia after recording a club record sixth league win in a row over a poor Alavés. The player who did the damage was once again Walter Pandiani, a man who only a couple of weeks ago was starting to despair and with two goals today has now hit five in eight days.

Pandiani struck first on the half hour mark, losing his marker and powering a header down past Dutruel from inside the area after a good run by Novo down the right wing. Up until that point Alavés had matched the home side, with Iván Alonso putting their best chance just over the bar, but after the goal they disappeared from play and did not really surface again until ten minutes or so from the end.

Mallorca scored a second goal midway through the second half, Ibagaza getting his first of the season after Pandiani put him through. Then ten minutes later a moment of indecision between Abelardo and Dutruel allowed Pandiani to steal the ball away from them, and the keeper had no option but to bring him down. Luckily for him referee Ramírez Domínguez allowed him to stay on the field of play, but Pandiani had no trouble tucking away the resulting penalty kick for the third.

Finally Alavés woke up, and Iván Alonso hit the post with a long shot which appeared to take a deflection off a defender following a free kick. A couple of minutes later Ramírez awarded a penalty to the visitors for a foul by substitute Fernando Niño, but Rubén Navarro put his shot wide.

In the end though though Alavés did get a consolation goal, Ilie rounding a defender before shooting across Leo Franco, but overall it was a bad performance by the Vitoria based side, who could be in some trouble this season if they do not buck up their ideas.