Kadewere surprises Mallorca coach
ZIMBABWEAN forward Tino Kadewere surprised his coach Javier Aguirre with his pace when he finally made his debut and scored for Real Mallorca in the Copa Del Rey first round win over Spanish lower-tier football side Autol on Saturday night.
Kadewere, who was coming from a worrying injury he suffered on his arrival at the club on loan from French Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyon in September, was introduced as a second half substitute and then opened his account in the 88th minute.
The 26-year-old grabbed the last goal of the match in the 6-0 triumph. Mallorca got their goals from Clement Grenier and a brace each from Abdon Prats and Angel Rodriguez.
Aguirre was particularly impressed by Kadewere, on his first game.
“(I am) happy because he didn’t have a good time and finally, we could enjoy a little,” said Aguirre.
“I was surprised by his speed; in training he had not shown me that virtue. It is true that he was signed for that. He had different characteristics from Abdon Prats, Vedat Muriqi or Angel Rodriguez. It is seen that he is confident. The injury he had is not easy. I liked him and the whole performance.
“The match was very serious on our part. We never did anything silly or anything exaggerated to feel upper. I think the best way to respect the opponent is to play the (game) as serious as possible, we did.
“The work, in general of all, was well. It is true that some have fewer minutes than others, but they are all important. The end result is the least. The performance left me happy. I think they all complied with instructions.”
Mallorca, who have been poor in front of goal after scoring only seven goals in eight Spanish La Liga starts, desperately need to turn their fortunes around and Kadewere could be the answer. Kadewere had been out of action since the beginning of September after suffering a serious injury to the quadriceps of his right leg.
The 26-year-old had just completed his move to Spanish club, Real Mallorca, on loan from Lyon and the knock came on the eve of a highly anticipated Spanish La Liga debut against reigning champions Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Initial assessments had indicated he needed three to four months to recover fully from the setback.
But his recovery had been quicker than anticipated. It took just two months for him to be playing competitive football again.
He has been waiting for this opportunity for a long time.
“If I am honest, it’s been amazing. It’s a great feeling. It was a good game and we take every game as a big game, a final. This was also an important game for us because if we win like this we get to progress.
“So, I am really happy for my first game, I am happy for my first goal and I am hoping for many. “We want to try and achieve the best for the team. We have La Liga and we have Copa Del Rey also, so we have to try and make progress in all the competitions.
“So this game was important for the team, and especially for me because I wanted to see how I am feeling and how it is to play football in Spain,” said Kadewere after Saturday night’s match.
Kadewere returned to training last month and was an unused substitute in Mallorca’s last two La Liga matches.
Mallorca are currently in 11th place with 19 points from 14 outings. Their conversion rate has been disappointing after finding the back of the nets 13 times.
Mallorca are set to resume the La Liga action on December 31 when they travel to Getafe. Kadewere said he was happy with the support from his teammates during the period he was injured.
“I love my teammates. They are really supportive. With my situation you can tell that it’s not an easy thing to come to a new club and you get injured. But to be honest, I felt at home. Everyone was supportive, they were with me and everyone was really pushing me and I’m happy to be with them again.
“For now the injury is gone and we now need to focus. The championship is on the break now and we will have a lot of time to make sure that we work hard and when the championship starts we really need to continue. The team has been doing well and it is important for us and it’s also amazing for the people in Mallorca and they are very happy with that,” said Kadewere.
Kadewere is on loan to Mallorca for the season, with an option to buy for €8.5 million.