Dominik Greif, Mallorca's cupbearer hero who overcame a hell of pain

Goalkeeper Dominik Greif (Bratislava, Slovakia; 26 years old), Mallorca's cup-bearing hero, was received on the island in the summer of 2021 as if he had escaped from prison, evoking the famous movie

Lifetime

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“Freedominik [Freedom for Dominik]” the vermilion followers came to write in the previous months on the networks.

When his signing was announced, the club published a video, titled “The Story of a Liberation,” which began with the famous scene from the film in which the prison warden discovers that one of his inmates (played by Tim Robbins) had He escaped by digging a tunnel from his cell.

The original Mallorca piece ended with Greif arriving in Palma, hiding in the trunk of a car and smilingly having a cocktail with views of the sea.

Freed, at last.

The nod to the famous film came as a result of what had happened six months earlier, in the January 2021 market. The goalkeeper had traveled to Mallorca ready to sign his signature, however, the president of his lifelong club , Slovan from Bratislava, closed his exit.

The goalkeeper felt so close to Mallorca that he published on his networks that he was on the island, so, when the operation began to go wrong, Son Moix fans began to circulate the hashtag #freedominik, which he even shared publicly.

But Slovan did not give in, they denied the sale at that time and it was delayed for half a year, after payment of 2.5 million.

The largest outlay by the Spanish entity for a goalkeeper.

The story of a liberation… pic.twitter.com/sK8TargjBR

— Real Mallorca (@RCD_Mallorca) July 6, 2021

Dominik Greif's period in Palma began in this very eventful - and movie-like - way.

And the worst for him was yet to come.

The idea of ​​​​the technical direction was for him to succeed the veteran Manolo Reina, who was 36 years old at the time.

However, as soon as he arrived, a physical way of the cross began.

First due to a muscle injury, then due to dental problems and, to top it all off, due to an ordeal that left him without playing and out of the team for a year, from December 2021 to December 2022.

“I couldn't even go out to the supermarket”

The story he himself gave after his return in an interview in a media outlet in his country (

Sport)

is a very shocking succession of calamities.

“He was tormented by unbearable pain throughout his body,” he began about a problem that he preferred not to specify.

“I couldn't go out to the supermarket or run with my dog.

It was a living corpse.

He took doses of painkillers for horses that affected the stomach.

It is difficult to describe it to someone who has not experienced something like this.

I don't even know the tests I underwent.

The doctors would try a treatment and say that the effect should be felt in about six weeks.

Like this several times.

Until they got to the root of the problem and the solution worked,” recalled this young man who, according to him, remained strong-minded.

“After so long, I no longer missed football, but normal life.

My girlfriend put me in the car as if she were in a wheelchair,” he closed in the interview.

“A cold-blooded Slovak,” as noted this Wednesday in Mallorca, during this illness “he relied a lot on his compatriot Martin Valjent, also a roommate.”

Dominik Greif's career was frozen from December 1, 2021, in a Cup match against Segoviana (0-2, saved a penalty), until December 20, 2022, in another cup match against Real Unión de Irun (0-1).

He had arrived to occupy the Mallorcan goal, but his fall to hell forced the club to turn to Sergio Rico (from January to June 2022) and then to sign Predrag Rajkovic, today's starter in the League.

After so many duels and losses, this goalkeeper of 1.97 barely has 12 games with the vermilion team in three seasons, and only two in the League: in the defeats against Osasuna (2-3) in 21-22 and Barcelona (3-0) at 22-23.

With his national team, he remained in four international caps and has not gone since 2021. The stronghold for this fishing fan has been the Cup, his lever to escape from oblivion.

He first stopped Brais Méndez from 11 meters (he has three missed penalties in a row) and in the decisive round, he stopped specialist Mikel Oyarzabal (the sixth time he has missed in 35 shots).

A year earlier, he had said goodbye to the Cup, and actually almost to his season, in Anoeta with an early goal from Robert Navarro (1-0).

The return to San Sebastián illuminated his resurrection and great night of glory.

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