Real Madrid suffered a shocking 1-0 defeat to Mallorca, to further dent their hopes of retaining the La Liga title. The only goal of the game was an own goal scored by Nacho – a deflection from Vidat Muriqi’s flick which ended up in the top corner.
Should Barcelona win their game against Sevilla, Real Madrid will be eight points behind their El Clasico rivals. And by the way things stand, Xavi Hernandez could win his side the league to add to the Supercopa de Espana.
What went wrong for Real Madrid at Mallorca?
Thibaut Courtois has been a talismanic figure for the team for years now. The Belgian was one of the main reasons behind their incredible performance last season, and this year too. However, he sustained an injury in warm-up which resulted in Andriy Lunin getting the sudden nod between the sticks.
The Ukrainian didn’t do much wrong apart from the own goal. But in the end, it proved to be too costly to concede.
Injuries have gotten the better of the team this year. Karim Benzema and Eder Militao were both unavailable, while Courtois was also not in the team. Marco Asensio had the best chance to level things up with a penalty. But his effort was saved, piling on the misery for the visitors.
Real Madrid had 74% of the possession by the end of the game, but only one shot on target to show for it. As a result, things need to improve quickly for Carlo Ancelotti’s men if they are to put up a fight for the league title – because Barcelona seem to be running away with it right now.
