Dani Rodríguez had been a first division footballer for three minutes and 19 seconds when the ball dropped at his feet by the centre spot and the pitch and a whole new world opened up, inviting him in. High in the stand at Son Moix, a Mallorca director edged forward and, he later admitted, thought: “Run, Forrest, run!” All around, 15,127 fans had pretty much the same idea. Down below, Dani did too. So he ran: fast and straight. “I set off like mad; it felt like a whole herd chasing me,” he grinned – and he got away, reaching the edge of the area before anyone from Eibar could catch him: 40 metres, four seconds, four touches. A fifth and the ball was in the net.
Rodríguez carried on running, but this time the herd heading after him were his own players: primera. Fists were in the air, supporters leaping into each others’ arms, released at last, footballers tumbling and shouting. Mallorca were 1-0 up on the opening night. Only, the referee had his finger in his ear. Guadalupe Porras, his female assistant, the first in La Liga history, stopped and then they all did, like someone had pressed pause. “You must have thought: ‘Hostia, bloody hell, don’t take this off me’,” Rodríguez was asked afterwards. “Yeah, and in those words,” he replied, “I didn’t even know what they were looking at: there was nothing wrong with it.”
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