Getafe 2-0 Mallorca in first La Liga game after World Cup

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Getafe 2-0 Mallorca in first La Liga game after World Cup

Mallorca defender Franco Russo leaps over Getafe striker Cristian Portu during a La Liga match between Getafe and RCD Mallorca at Coliseum Alfonso Perez stadium in Getafe, Spain on Friday.  [EPA/YONHAP]

Mallorca defender Franco Russo leaps over Getafe striker Cristian Portu during a La Liga match between Getafe and RCD Mallorca at Coliseum Alfonso Perez stadium in Getafe, Spain on Friday. [EPA/YONHAP]

 
RCD Mallorca lost their first La Liga game after the 2022 Qatar World Cup on Friday, conceding two second half goals to fall behind Getafe in a sluggish game on the road.
 
It was a quiet first half at Coliseum Alfonso Pérez in Getafe, Spain, with the only real excitement coming in the 41st minute when Mallorca looked to have won a penalty, only to have the handball ruled out due to an earlier offside.
 
But while Mallorca continued to struggle to pick up the pace after the break, Getafe came back from the dressing room with a vengeance. Borja Mayoral provided both goals for the home side, striking in the 51st and 78th minutes.
 
Korean midfielder Lee Kang-in played 84 minutes of the game, proving as fast-footed as ever in the middle of the field but failing to create enough chances for the squad.
 
Lee Kang-in walks off the pitch in an image tweeted by RCD Mallorca on Friday.  [RCD MALLORCA]

Lee Kang-in walks off the pitch in an image tweeted by RCD Mallorca on Friday. [RCD MALLORCA]

 
The 2-0 loss is a disappointment for Mallorca, who sit three spots above Getafe on the La Liga table. The Balearic Islands team had been having a fairly solid season, but Friday’s loss pushes them to five wins, four draws and six losses to date.
 
The loss came a couple of days after Mallorca launched an official Korean-language Twitter account in an apparent nod to the importance of Lee and he club's rapidly growing Korean fanbase.
 
The launch of the account comes as 21-year-old Lee, a fan favorite in Korea since he was only six-years-old, has become an increasingly important figure for both the Mallorca and Korean national team this season. Tottenham Hotspur, home of talismanic Korean captain Son Heung-min, operate a similar Korean-language Twitter account.
 
Lee joined Mallorca last year after a decade in Valencia and has been having a particularly good season, scoring two goals and picking up three assists so far and earning a player of the month nomination along the way.
 
Lee has established himself an especially effective playmaker, using fancy footwork to beat defenders and his impressive accuracy to get the ball up to the front.
That skill was on display in Qatar, where he very quickly made a name for himself, appearing in all four games and making a mark in his World Cup debut against Uruguay, when Lee and Cho Gue-sung came on as late substitutes and immediately breathed new life into a flagging team.
 
Against Ghana, Lee came on in the 57th minute and within less than a minute he had driven a beautiful cross into the box for Cho to head home.
 
Lee and Mallorca will look for better results over the next week as they take on third-tier club Pontevedra in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday and 15th-ranked La Liga club Valladolid in a league clash on Saturday.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]
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