Mallorca beat Villarreal to jump to eighth on La Liga table

Mallorca players celebrate after scoring their third goal against Villarreal during a La Liga game in Mallorca, Spain on Saturday. [EPA/YONHAP]

Mallorca jumped up to eighth place on the La Liga table on Saturday after a fiery 4-2 win over Villarreal allowed them to overtake the Castellón side.

Korean midfielder Lee Kang-in picked up an assist in the victory, setting up Dani Rodriguez for the third goal with a corner in the 56th minute.

Tino Kadewere gave Mallorca an early lead in the 20th minute. Just a minute later, Villarreal went down to 10 men after Manu Trigueros was shown a direct red card for punching Rodriguez.

Villarreal tied things up at 1-1 in the 43rd minute, only for Rodriguez to give Mallorca the lead again in the 45th.

Villarreal again drew level with a goal in the 50th minute, but the Lee-assisted effort in the 56th put the home side ahead at Iberostar Stadium in Mallorca. Vedat Muriqi added No. 4 a few minutes later, with Lee missing a good chance to make it five in the 73rd minute, shortly before he was substituted off for Clément Grenier.

With the win, Mallorca move into eighth place, up to spots on the La Liga table with nine wins, nine losses and four draws for so far this season for 31 points.

That puts the Ballearic Islands side just two points behind Rayo Vallecano in sixth place, the threshold for European football next season.

In La Liga, the sixth-place finisher gets to play in the Europa Conference League qualifiers, the fifth-place team in the Europa League and the top four teams in the UEFA Champions League.

Mallorca, who finished last season in 16th place on the 20-team table, are enjoying a very good season for a relatively small club. With 16 games still to play, Mallorca could be looking at a comfortable top-10 finish and possibly even challenge or a higher spot on the table.

“We are there where we have to be, we are very clear about the objective,” Mallorca manager Javier Aguirre said after the game on Saturday.

"At the moment it is February. With 31 points no one has been saved and there are no reasons to think otherwise.

“Remember, this win was against 10 players. We have to play a complete game with 11. It is true that it was not our fault that Villarreal were down to 10, but we are not going to deceive ourselves or deviate from our path. There were clearly avoidable mistakes today, especially the two goals we conceded.”

Twenty-two-year-old Lee is looking good in his second season with Mallorca, scoring two goals and picking up five assists as of Saturday, far outpacing his one goal and two assists in his debut season with the club last year.

Lee joined Mallorca two years ago after a decade in Valencia and has been having a particularly good season, scoring two goals and picking up four 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.

He is a regular starter and Aguirre has repeatedly made it clear that he considers Lee a core member of his starting XI.

Lee and the Mallorca side will be back in action next Sunday for another challenging fixture, facing Espanyol on the road in Barcelona.

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