Real Mallorca striker Samuel Eto’o has accused referees of favouring Valencia after his altercation with midfielder Miguel Angulo sparked a pitch invasion following the 1-1 draw. « If they miss out this year with all the favours they will never win the title, » he blasted. « It was clear the ref was with them. »
Eto’o, who scored on 44 minutes before Ruben Baraja equalised, blamed Angulo for the post-match scuffles.
« He knows what happened. I spoke with Baraja and Carboni and I told them he attacked me. I was walking off the field talking to Curro Torres when Angulo arrived behind me and started pointing and shouting at me.
« When somebody does this you have to confront them. He certainly had balls, I’ll give him that. »
Mallorca coach Sergio Kresic was disappointed his relegation-thretaned side dropped two points. »We fought very hard. My players know how well they did and they were sad. We spurned opportunities.
« Valencia did well to hold us after the break but we must be down about the result. »
An early Eto’o goal was ruled out by referee Rafael Dominguez for an alleged foul by Albert Luque as the cross came in. The Cameroon star then appeared to be tripped in the area by Miroslav Djukic but penalty appeals were dismissed.
Valencia manager Rafael Benitez agreed with the disallowed goal. « I thought there was a foul before the ball went in, » he said. « The work of the referee is very difficult.
« Nerves betrayed both teams as we both needed the three points for different but important reasons.
« We played very well in the second half when we moved the ball around had more presence on the field. We created enough opportunities to unbalance a side that defended very well throughout.
« They were certainly a difficult team to play against. We have added another point to our tally but we could have taken all three. »
