Okay so yesterday I wanted to see who’s gonna start in the Atletico vs Mallorca match before anyone else posted it online. Kicked things off real simple – just opened my laptop around an hour before the usual lineup announcement time.
First Attempt Was Useless
Checked ESPN first ’cause it’s usually fast. But nope. Nothing. Just some stupid pre-match stats and player ratings. Useless. Then I jumped over to the official La Liga website expecting to see it there. Still got the old match info up. Big surprise. Swore at my screen a little.
Social Media Runaround
Opened Twitter and searched both clubs’ official accounts. Atletico’s was busy posting fan art. Mallorca put up pictures of the bus arriving. Seriously? I needed actual football news here. Started scanning journo accounts next – clicked through like ten profiles until I found this guy Mario who works for a Mallorca paper. Finally saw his tweet with a blurry photo of the team sheet on the dressing room wall.
Meanwhile Atletico’s lineup dropped via a video announcement. Had it playing on my phone while scribbling notes. Got it down like this:
- Atletico: Oblak – Molina, Savic, Hermoso, Reinildo – Llorente, Koke, Saul, Griezmann – Morata
- Mallorca: Rajkovic – Copete, Valjent, Nastasic – Gonzalez, Costa, Samu, Lato – Sanchez, Muriqi
Getting It Out There
Cross-checked with two other reporter accounts real quick. Made sure the spellings were right – always mess up Samu Costa’s name for some reason. Then boom. Posted the full lineups on my page with a quick “BREAKING” headline. Already saw people sharing it five minutes later while the big websites were still loading their ads. Felt like scoring a last-minute winner.
Big takeaway? Club social media managers care more about looking fancy than giving fans what we want. Always go for journalists leaking stuff.