We registered our first point of the season with a goalless draw against ten-man RCD Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium.
Luis García Plaza made three changes to the side that lost 1-0 to Rayo Vallecano on the opening day of the season as we faced Vicente Moreno for the first time since his departure from the club.
Brain Oliván made his first start in club colours following his arrival from Cádiz CF in place of Ivan Bravo, while Salva Sevilla and Abdón replaced Stoichkov and Alex Alegría respectively. New signing Jordi Mboula was named among a substitutes bench including Antonio Sánchez, Luka Romero and Ruben de Galarreta.
The opening exchanges required Manolo Reina to be at his best as he first reacted to Wui Lei’s header with an unorthodox save before later getting down well to avoid a defensive mix-up with Antonio Raillo.
The centre back quickly atoned for the miscommunication when he climbed highest to test Diego Lopez with a powerful header having shown good movement to lose his marker just before the half-hour mark.
Chances were few and far between throughout the first half as Iddrisu Baba broke up Los Periquitos' attacks and looked to feed Salva Sevilla, Aleix Febas and Dani Rodríguez further forward in a tightly-contested midfield. Despite our best efforts to slip past the hosts’ resilient shape, we would ultimately head into half-time deadlocked.
The restart mirrored the opening 45 minutes' tempo, with Adrían Embarba cutting in and firing wide before Oliván hammered a wild strike over the bar from distance as clear chances remained scarce.
With gaps in the final third opening up as play began to stretch in the game's closing stages, Salva Sevilla was able to find space and time to let leash at goal, only to be denied by a routine save from Lopez.
New arrival Mboula and academy product Antonio Sanchez were handed their first appearances in the senior side with 10 minutes left on the clock as García looked to change our offensive dynamic.
The remaining seven minutes swung in our favour as Marc Roca received his marching orders for a second bookable offence having elbowed Dani Rodríguez while competing for a loose aerial ball.
Despite a numerical advantage time was unfortunately against us as we were unable to find a late winner and will now have to quickly turn our attention to our hosting of CE Sabadell in a week’s time.
RCD Mallorca: Manolo Reina, Joan Sastre, Raíllo, Valjent, B. Oliván, Baba, Febas (79’), Salva Sevilla, Dani Rodríguez (87’), Lago Júnior (79’), Abdón (73’)
Substitutes: Miquel Parera, Leo, Iván Bravo, De Galarreta, Antonio Sánchez (79’), Luka Romero, Alegría (73’), Russo, Fran Gámez, Sedlar, Stoichkov (87’), Mboula (79’)
RCD Espanyol: Diego López, Cabrera, Calero, Miguelón, Dídac Vila, Wu Lei (57’), Embarba, Raúl De Tomás (84’), Melendo (57’), Fran Mérida (57’), David López (73’)
Substitutes: Oier, Angel F, Pedrosa, Lluís López, Puado (57’), S. Darder (57’), Marc Roca (57’), Vargas (73’), Pol Lozano (84’), Óscar, Carreras, Nico M.R
