Chapter 56: The Next Goal
After all the European matches this week, the whole of Europe was stunned by the dominance of La Liga.
In the Champions League, three out of the four semifinal spots were claimed by Spanish teams. In the UEFA Cup, Mallorca reached the final. As of now, only six teams remain in European competition, four of which are from Spain! Meanwhile, the once-dominant Serie A teams were completely wiped out. Lazio, the only Serie A team to make it to the UEFA Cup quarterfinals, was brutally beaten by Valencia. Parma was eliminated in the qualifiers by the Scottish team Glasgow Rangers, AC Milan was knocked out in the group stage of the Champions League, and even Fiorentina, Lazio, and others faced early exits. This season was considered disgraceful, especially compared to the previous one, when teams like Inter Milan and Juventus made it deep into the Champions League.
The Spanish media were basking in their success—look at how Serie A has fallen; La Liga is now the top league in the world!
Meanwhile, Mallorca's unexpected journey to the UEFA Cup final was receiving widespread praise. After being eliminated from the Champions League qualifiers, Mallorca had faced tough opponents throughout the UEFA Cup—aside from a relatively easy first round against a Czech team, they defeated formidable clubs: Wolfsburg from Germany, Ajax from the Netherlands, Monaco from France, Galatasaray from Turkey, and Leeds United in the semifinals. Mallorca's progress to the final was a remarkable achievement.
The final will be held on May 18, and their opponents will be Arsenal, who had knocked out two La Liga teams this season. This game will undoubtedly be the most important match of José's tenure at Mallorca.
"Right now, I'm not focusing on the UEFA Cup final, as we haven't secured our survival yet," José said seriously to the journalists, drawing boos from the crowd.
With only five rounds remaining in the league, Mallorca was comfortably ahead of the relegation zone. Compared to other teams struggling to stay in the top division, Mallorca was practically in heaven.
Despite the jeering, the reporters had to admire José's achievement. Just four months ago, when he took over, Mallorca was in disarray with only twelve points from the league. After thirteen rounds, they had accumulated forty-three points—thirty-one of those in the last thirteen matches. In this period, only Real Madrid had gathered more points, and Mallorca was closing in on the league leaders, Deportivo La Coruña and Barcelona, who had underperformed.