Kosovan striker Vedat Muriqi of Mallorca spoiled the big night for Real Madrid and Kylian Mbappé. Muriqi will always remember the night when his goal denied Real Madrid a victory in their first match of the season.
Muriqi’s coach once described him as a “strange, ugly beast,” and everyone calls him “the pirate.” He’s the type of guy who, if he saw himself in a dark, empty street, he’d cross to avoid himself. But Real Madrid couldn’t avoid him. He was proud just to share the stage with these world stars, as he put it, but that wasn’t enough for him. This was supposed to be Kylian Mbappé’s league, as the headlines declared on Sunday morning. However, that night belonged to Mallorca and the 6’4″ Kosovan with the big beard, ponytail, and scurvy smile. Muriqi broke through to score the first official goal that Real Madrid’s goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois had conceded in a year, standing tall, one hand on his chest, the other pointing to everyone around.
He said, “This is amazing.”
The match ended in a 1-1 draw, with Muriqi’s brilliant header canceling out Rodrygo’s opening goal. It was only the first league match of the 2024-25 season at Son Moix Stadium, but that wasn’t the point. Sure, Courtois had been injured and only played six times since June 2023, but that wasn’t the main takeaway either. “They didn’t win, but they didn’t need to,” insisted *Diario de Mallorca*, noting that the point felt like a triumph. This was something new and significant, not just for Madrid. It just needed someone to remind everyone of that. After all, this was Madrid, the club with a budget 12 times larger than Mallorca’s, and Madrid is always the measuring stick for others. A survey showed that nearly 80% believed Madrid would win the title, with the only surprise being that this percentage wasn’t higher.
This match was supposed to be someone else’s story, but Mallorca made it their own. One of the national sports papers headlined the start of the “Mbappé League,” while the other presented the man who needs no introduction: “Ladies and gentlemen… Kylian Mbappé.” Another headline read: “Mbappé arrives, takes over Son Moix,” but the 23,010 spectators (with only 22,058 season ticket holders) weren’t just there for him. Even Mallorca’s new coach, Jagoba Arrasate, admitted that when the fixtures were announced, his eight-year-old son Luka exclaimed, “Dad, we’re going to see Mbappé’s league debut.” Arrasate joked, “I didn’t find that funny.” Nearby, VIP seats went for €850, and on TV, you could select the “Kylian Cam” to follow Mbappé throughout the match.
But football has a way of finding its own path, sometimes, often just enough to keep you coming back. And this was one of those times.
Real Madrid took an early lead. Rodrygo, who had been literally cropped out of a photo by *Marca* to fit into their BMV (Big Money Victor) coverage after the UEFA Super Cup, scored the opening goal. “At that point, you fear the worst,” admitted Arrasate. “Sorry for thinking this would be easy,” he thought. What Carlo Ancelotti couldn’t forgive was the possibility that his players thought the same. By the end, his frustration was clear. For a while, Real Madrid, heavily left-sided, dazzled with their play. The opening goal was polished to perfection after a beautiful move, and now they were trying to improve on it. Maybe a bit too much. Although Mallorca had their moments, the second one was coming.
During the water break, Arrasate told his players to keep up the pressure from the first half, and they did. Early in the second half, the Kylian Cam was in action, showing how Muriqi broke free from the Frenchman, got past Antonio Rüdiger, and powered a header into the net. It was a dead-ball situation, but no one was close. It was Mallorca’s eighth corner, and in the end, they had more shots. Madrid had time, but not much reaction. As Ancelotti made changes, switching players and formations, bringing on Güler, Brahim, Lucas, and Modrić, Mallorca remained steady. They even had two clear chances to win, with Kyle Larin breaking down the left and Antonio Sánchez having the best opportunity.
Kylian Mbappé had a quiet night in his long-awaited La Liga debut with Real Madrid.
Ancelotti said, “We lacked balance. ‘Attitude’ and ‘commitment’ too. They defended poorly, and he said, ‘there was no excuse.’ They ‘didn’t understand’ that when they pressed, it wasn’t about ‘one, two, or three players.’ There was something else too, that’s the last line Ancelotti said before he got up and left—a necessary reminder of something simple: the other side.
“Yes, and Mallorca played well.” Well, kind of. This summer, Arrasate, who was on a sabbatical as a schoolteacher, or “the Jürgen Klopp of Osasuna,” as his former sporting director called him, left the team he took from the second division to Europe and took over from Javier Aguirre. Aguirre saved Mallorca, surviving on the final day of his first season, then leading them to the Copa del Rey final. But Mallorca struggled to stay up last season and wanted to take a step forward, which is a bit different.
This was almost the perfect start, a glimmer of hope against the toughest opponents ever. Of Sunday’s starting lineup, only Takuma Asano on the right and the impressive Johan Mojica at left-back were new signings, but they still want another winger. Dani Rodríguez, who scored their first goal when they returned to La Liga in 2019, is still there. So is Antonio Raillo, the captain who was with them in the second division, and Martin Valjent beside him as always. Samu Costa and Omar Mascarell were in the middle. Cult hero Abdón Prats was on the bench. Sergi Darder was there too, but in a different role that he admitted suits him better, a change that speaks volumes about the shift in intentions and style. “Football that I experienced in the north,” says Arrasate. “Pressing, defending hard, getting the ball, attacking with wingers, crossing, finishing.”
And then there’s Muriqi, the man who can head the ball into a washing machine and holds onto the ball like no one else, where every aimless kick turns into a pass. “He’s ugly, but, hell, how well does he play! You can’t change the bastard,” as Aguirre said. His former coach insisted you can’t help but love him, and he was right. Muriqi says, “I’m ugly, but I’m attractive,” which sums it up well. An engaging, warm, funny character, and one of those footballers who embodies solidarity. The man Arrasate says has “a hammer on his head.” And it wasn’t just about that, but about everything he did and gave. Which was, well, everything. Arrasate says, “He lets us breathe.”
Muriqi said, “This is great, amazing [for us to start this way].” “I have to be honest: it’s great to score against Real Madrid. Mbappé, Vinícius, Rodrygo, Bellingham… my God, you can’t imagine what it’s like. I just told Militão: you guys are so fast. It’s incredible. They’re good players, world stars. I watched Real Madrid when I was a kid, and I’m so proud of myself for playing against Real Madrid and sharing the field with them.”
When he could watch them, which wasn’t often. It’s hard to imagine Muriqi as a kid. He’s always been an old man, he says, an adult as a child: “At 14, I was already shaving, I swear. Life made me a man, really. I was never young, not in height or feeling or mentality. Since my father died, I was never young. Never.” He says he saw things in the war that no one should see, the family fled to Albania, dozens living in one room, and just as the war was nearly over, his father had a heart attack while playing football with friends. He asked himself why he didn’t turn his back on the game, the connection was too painful: “I wonder about it a lot, even today. But I always tried to take the positives even from the worst moments. So I said: Okay, I’ll become a footballer because he was a footballer, and I’ll follow him.”
He lacked a guide, a childhood. His uncles told him to forget about playing. He had to earn money. No one really thought football could be a career, just a dream for entertainment. He worked in a restaurant from age 14, didn’t complete his education—finishing high school online after joining Mallorca. He made his debut as a teenager, went to Turkey and Italy too. It didn’t go well; he barely played and felt the pressure. Here, he found himself. “Mallorca made me live as a footballer.” Something special arrived at the club’s training ground this week: a shirt from KF Liria, his first club, with the pirate symbol on the front. On Sunday, Real Madrid arrived, and it was his moment too. He’s come a long way, and it didn’t end here. After a crucial night.