Muriqi sent off for rude gesture but Mallorca wins
Vedat Muriqi was shown a red card late in the game for an obscene gesture, but his Mallorca side somehow came away from Las Palmas with a 3-2 win after a bizarre LaLiga contest in Gran Canaria.
After a goalless first half in which Las Palmas hit the post, Mallorca went ahead a minute after the second half had started through Dani Rodriguez.
Ten minutes later, Robert Navarro had doubled the lead, and the visitors were seemingly cruising to victory.
But on 76 minutes, Dario Essugo found the net after his shot from the edge of the box was deflected, and a Muriqi handball on 83 minutes allowed Fabio Silva to score from the spot and level things up.
Things then took a turn for the strange.
After a Mallorca corner was cleared by the Las Palmas defence, play continued momentarily before the referee was called by VAR to check an incident that had occured between Muriqi and Jaime Mata as that corner was cleared.
Kosovo striker Muriqi was seen gesturing to Mata with his finger, and that was deemed enough for the referee to show him a yellow card, while Mata was shown a yellow for his part in the altercation.
As a result of something else in the lead-up to that incident, the referee awarded Mallorca an indirect free-kick right on the six-yard line.
After a long delay caused by both confusion and the organisation of the set-piece, Johan Mojica fired into the top corner, evading practically the entire Las Palmas team on the goalline to win the match for the visitors.
Victory lifted Mallorca into sixth on the table with 21 points, while for a disappointed and bemused Las Palmas, defeat left it just two points clear of the relegation zone with 12 points.
