January 25, (THEWILL) – La Liga Leaders Girona suffered Copa Del Rey heartbreak on Wednesday, crashing out of the competition at the quarter-final stage after a dramatic 3-2 defeat to Real Mallorca.
Despite enjoying the majority of possession, Michel’s side were unable to recover after finding themselves 3-0 down inside 40 minutes against their inspired opponents.
Mallorca opened the scoring in the 21st minute through striker Cyle Larin, who finished from close range after being teed up by Dani Rodriguez. The hosts’ advantage was then doubled in style just seven minutes later, as a thunderous 25-yard strike from Abdon Prats left Girona keeper Juan Carlos grasping at thin air.
Completing a frantic opening period, Prats bagged his second on 34 minutes by converting a penalty after Antal Yaakobishvili was adjudged to have handled the ball inside the box.
Girona attempted to launch an inspired second-half comeback, pulling a goal back through Cristhian Stuani’s penalty on 71 minutes after the striker had been fouled by Antonio Raillo inside the area. Raillo’s foul proved costly, with the defender receiving a second yellow card for the offence. Savio then set up a tense finale by reducing the arrears to just one goal deep into added time, but Girona’s late pressure ultimately could not force an equaliser.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
