Mallorca continue flying start

Real Mallorca's fantastic start to the Primera Division season continued as they beat Valencia 2-0 on Sunday.

Real Mallorca's fantastic start to the Primera Division season continued as they beat Valencia 2-0 to move on to 11 points from five games. Victor Casadesus fired the hosts into the lead after only seven minutes when his shot squeezed under Diego Alves, but the visitors went onto enjoy more of the ball for the rest of the half and were unlucky not to be level when Nelson Valdez's header came crashing back off the underside of the bar. Despite continued pressure from Valencia, Mallorca extended their lead on 55 minutes as Javier Arizmendi collected a Victor flick-on with his first touch before dispatching a volley low past Alves. The victory continues the islanders' unbeaten start to the season and their 100% record at home but this was far from a straightforward win as Valencia dominated in almost every area bar the scoreline. Unfortunately for Mauricio Pellegrino's side, they were behind before they truly got going as Tomer Hemed showed great control on the right side of the penalty area and laid the ball back for Victor whose shot just had too much power for Alves. Roberto Soldado had Valencia's first big chance of the game but he was denied by a sprawling save from Dudu Aouate and Jonathan Viera looped the rebound over an unguarded goal. Valdez then came closest to an equaliser as a corner on the left was worked to Tino Costa and his in-swinging cross was met powerfully by the Paraguayan but the ball did not cross the line as it bounced down off the bar and away to safety. The second half began in exactly the same way but while Valencia probed away looking for an equaliser, one long ball caught their defence flat-footed as Victor flicked on for Arizmendi, who had only replaced Hemed seconds previously, and he confidently volleyed into the far corner. The former Valencia man could even have had a second goal when he was found by Emilio Nsue on another quick counter-attack but he handled as he stretched to head home and was promptly booked. Valencia were soon back on the front foot though and Aouate showed good reactions to parry a first-time effort from Soldado. The referee then adjudged Pedro Geromel had deliberately played the ball back to his goalkeeper, who picked it up, resulting in an indirect free-kick. Costa's thunderous effort from five yards was bravely blocked by Anderson Conceicao and when another Costa drive was turned away by Aouate, all hope was gone for the visitors.