Al-Ittihad’s Spanish camp ends on sour note with Mallorca drubbing and Malaga fightback

Al-Ittihad rounded off their pre-season training camp in Marbella with a damaging defeat to Real Mallorca and a squandered two-goal lead against Malaga, leaving the Saudi club with plenty of questions ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.

The Jeddah side played two friendlies on Thursday to close their stay in Spain, losing 4-2 to Real Mallorca in a morning match before drawing 2-2 with Malaga later in the day, despite leading 2-0 at half-time.

German head coach Jens Wissing used the Mallorca game to give minutes to his fringe players, and the reshuffled line-up struggled, conceding four times.

Young Argentine forward Mateo Borrell briefly put Al-Ittihad in front on 15 minutes with their opening goal, but Mallorca responded strongly and ultimately ran out 4-2 winners. Adnan Al-Bashri scored Al-Ittihad’s second in the 75th minute, but by then the Spanish side had already taken control.

Stronger XI lets lead slip

The performance improved in the second fixture against Malaga, when Wissing turned to most of his first-choice players and appeared to be heading for a morale-boosting win.

Dutch winger Steven Bergwijn struck early, putting Al-Ittihad ahead in the fourth minute, before Nigerian forward George Elenechayna doubled the advantage in the 33rd minute to cap a dominant first half.

Al-Ittihad went into the interval 2-0 up, but Malaga responded after the break. Adrian Nino pulled one back in the 54th minute and Joaquin Munoz levelled just four minutes later, as the Spanish side capitalised on defensive lapses to salvage a draw.

The two results meant Al-Ittihad conceded six goals across the day’s two games, undermining the momentum they had built earlier in the camp.

Mixed record in Marbella

Despite the disappointing finale, Al-Ittihad leave Marbella with a balanced set of results from their four friendlies.

They began the camp positively, beating South African side Orlando Pirates 3-2 and following that up with a 2-1 victory over Spanish club Las Palmas.

Those wins were then followed by the 4-2 defeat against Real Mallorca and the 2-2 draw with Malaga, leaving Wissing with two victories, one loss and one draw to assess as he fine-tunes his squad.

Attention turns to Asia

Al-Ittihad, known as “The Tigers”, are scheduled to return to Jeddah within the next few hours to begin the third and final phase of their preparations for the new season.

Their first competitive assignment of 2026-27 will be a high-stakes fixture against Al Jazira of the United Arab Emirates on 11 August, in a play-off for a place in the AFC Champions League Elite.

The Spanish camp, designed to build fitness and integrate players ahead of that qualifier and the domestic campaign, has now underlined both the attacking potential in Wissing’s side and the defensive vulnerabilities they will need to address before the season begins.