Nine Man seal draw against Atletico Madrid

Nine Man seal draw against Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid suffered another embarrassing setback after conceding an injury-time equaliser to nine-man Real Mallorca in the Rojiblancos' first game following the departure of coach Abel Resino.

Atletico, despite being far from impressive, had still looked to be heading for a much-needed victory thanks to Diego Forlan's 52nd-minute penalty.

However, Mallorca heaped more misery on their hosts by drawing level in the 91st minute when home goalkeeper David De Gea deflected Borja Valero's low cross into his own net.

To make matters even more humiliating for Atletico, Mallorca had been playing with only 10 men since the 27th minute following Josemi's sending off, and with just nine since Ivan Ramis was red carded six minutes after the break.

Both of those dismissals were for second yellow cards handed out for handballs that resulted in penalties for Atletico, and although Forlan missed the first one, the Uruguayan made no mistake with the second to put the hosts ahead.

Atletico could not kill the game off after that though and they survived a huge scare in the 87th minute when Mallorca striker Pierre Webo beat De Gea to a hopeful cross into the area, but, agonisingly for the visitors, the Cameroon international's header hit the post before bouncing wide.

That should have been a wake-up call for Atletico, but they failed to heed it and paid the penalty in time added on when a deep free-kick into the box was allowed to reach Valero at the far post, and his cross into the danger area struck 18-year-old De Gea's heel and flew into the net.

There was hardly any time for Atletico to try and snatch a late winner after that, and new coach Quique Sanchez Flores, who was watching the game from the stands, was left to reflect on another poor home display by the capital club.

Sanchez Flores, the former Valencia and Getafe coach, was named as Atletico's new boss following yesterday's sacking of Resino, who parted company with the club in the wake of a dismal start to the season that had seen the Rojiblancos win just one of their opening seven league games and pick up just one point from a possible nine in their Champions League group.

Sanchez Flores will not take charge until Monday and it was Santi Denia, Resino's former assistant coach, who was on the bench for tonight's encounter which saw Atletico play host to a Mallorca side who started the clash in fifth spot.

Having been beaten 3-0 by Osasuna last weekend and 4-0 by Chelsea in midweek, Atletico were desperate for a good start today and they felt they should have been awarded a penalty inside the opening three minutes when Forlan went down under a challenge from Ramis.

That was not given but Atletico were celebrating a penalty just 23 minutes later when Josemi handled Simao Sabrosa's attempted pass to Forlan inside the area.

Josemi earned his second yellow of the match and an early bath, but Atletico could not take advantage of the spot-kick as Forlan fired his effort wide.

Forlan got a chance to make amends at the start of the second half, though, when Atletico were awarded a second penalty, again for handball after Forlan's attempted cross had struck Ramis' hand.

Once more, a second yellow card was produced and Ramis was given his marching orders, but this time Forlan made the most of his opportunity as he sent Dudu Aouate the wrong way from the spot to put Atletico ahead.

That really should have been the catalyst for Atletico to record only their second league win of the season, and Simao and Cleber Santana came close to increasing the home side's lead.

However, Webo's late header proved Mallorca were still a threat and the Balearic Islands side stunned Atletico with their equaliser moments later to claim an unexpected point.