La Liga: Real Madrid are full of confidence in Mallorca before the return against Manchester City

After an explosive match in the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League against Manchester City (3-3), Real Madrid traveled to the Balearic island of Mallorca this Saturday afternoon, on the lawn of the Son Moix stadium, to challenge the Mallorca club as part of the 31st day of La Liga. At home, the Bermellones were organized in a 5-4-1 formation with former Rémois Rajković in goal. In defense, we found Maffeo, González, Rillo, Nastasić and Lato. Sánchez, Morlanes, Samu and Rodríguez were in midfield. And finally Muriqi positioned himself at the forefront of Mallorca’s attack. The Madrilenians played in a 4-3-3 formation with Lunin acting as the last line of defense. In defense, we found Vazquez, Rüdiger, Nacho and Mendy. Valverde, Tchouaméni and Modric occupied the midfield. Bellingham, Joselu and Brahim led the Real attack. Note that at kick-off, Real Madrid remained on a good run without defeat in any of their last 11 trips to La Liga (7 wins, 4 draws), their longest unbeaten away streak in the league. under the direction of Carlo Ancelotti.

The first period started at a fairly low pace. After a quarter of an hour, Mallorca still had not had a shot on goal, while Real Madrid had not scored either of their two anecdotal attempts. The Madrilenians had possession but they could not find a solution to endanger the opposing defense. The first real opportunity came from the locals. On a corner taken by Dani Rodríguez towards the far post, Antonio Raíllo’s header was found. Ukrainian goalkeeper Andriy Lunin cleared the ball which was arriving to his right (31st). The reaction was immediate on the Madrid side. Indeed, Aurélien Tchouameni found Jude Bellingham in the middle, the English striker armed with his right foot a powerful strike which crashed into the post of the Mallorcan cages (33rd). We therefore had to wait until the second half to experience the first big sparks of the match.

Tchouaméni’s cannonball!

Unlike the start of the match, the supporters were quickly able to vibrate in this second act. Aurélien Tchouameni recovered a ball cleared by the Mallorca defense and took his time to unleash a powerful right-footed shot which went straight into Predrag Rajković’s goal. Beaten, the Mallorca goalkeeper could do nothing in the face of this exceptional shot with a particular trajectory (48th, 1-0). The Frenchman’s goal woke up Real Madrid’s game, like this left-footed shot from Brahim Díaz which was repelled by Rajković (54th). In the penalty area, Luka Modrić pulled back towards Brahim Díaz. The Moroccan striker got his brushes tangled in his dribbles and allowed Predrag Rajković to recover the ball (61st). The Madrilenians continued. Vinícius Júnior provoked in the left lane before entering the opponent’s area and attempting a shot with the flat of his right foot but the ball passed just in front of the Mallorcan cages (67th). After a nice breakthrough from Vinícius Júnior, the Brazilian left the ball to Federico Valverde who dribbled into the area before adjusting his shot which came to nothing (72nd).

Despite the good attempt by Sergi Darder who fired a powerful long shot forcing Andriy Lunin to relax to put the ball for a corner (74th), Real Madrid was able to lock in success in Mallorca (1-0). In the second act, the Granata pushed hard several times to try to find the fault. In the standings, Real Madrid is still the clear leader of the Spanish championship with this 1st place reinforced every weekend, while Mallorca is scrutinizing 15th in La Liga. Next weekend, Casa Blanca will welcome FC Barcelona to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu for the legendary Clasico, while the Bermellones will travel to Andalusia to challenge Sevilla FC, during the 32nd Spanish matchday. This is good preparation before going to England to play against Manchester City.