Real Madrid despairs in Mallorca

Real Madrid despairs in Mallorca

An own goal by Nacho sentences Carlo Ancelotti's men and prevents them from cutting points to Barça

MADRID, 5 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Real Madrid fell this Sunday against RCD Mallorca at the Estadi Mallorca Son Moix (1-0), a tight match in which setbacks accumulated, in the form of an injury to Thibaut Courtois, an own goal by Nacho and the penalty missed by Marco Asensio, which leaves him five points behind the leader FC Barcelona.

An own goal by Nacho Fernández, when trying to clear a ball in a jump with the Kosovar Vedat Muriqi -the best of the match in the local team- before the quarter hour mark, put things uphill for the white team, who were able to tie the 60 minutes into a penalty shot that Rajkovic guessed at Asensio.

Javier Aguirre's men executed the plan perfectly, frustrating an inoperative Vinícius, to add their fourth consecutive victory in the heat of their stadium. With this, Carlo Ancelotti's men (45) remain five points behind Barça, who could increase their income if they beat Sevilla this Sunday at the Spotify Camp Nou.

With the atmosphere tense due to the previous 'piques' between Vinícius and Antonio Raíllo, the current league champion suffered his first setback even before the initial whistle, when the Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois put his hand to the left groin during the previous warm-up.

The Ukrainian Andriy Lunin took his place in the eleven and already in the first minutes he had to act to block a dangerous pass from Kang-in Lee when Raíllo and the Serbian Matija Nastasic were ready to finish off. However, nothing could be done shortly after the first vermilion blow.

Dani Rodríguez put a measured cross for the Kosovar Vedat Muriqi, who tried to finish off a header in a jump with Nacho, who was the one who finally, in his attempt to clear, ended up introducing the ball through the Madrid goal square (min. 13).

Despite everything, Carlo Ancelotti's men managed to gain control of the ball, although without beating a local defense that thwarted all the attempts to reach the Real Madrid team. The distant shots from Rodrygo, Antonio Rüdiger and Fede Valverde hardly disturbed the Serbian Predrag Rajkovic.

The frustrated white attacks ended up unhinging Vinícius, completely out of the game and who saw his fifth yellow card for a stomp on Maffeo in the throes of the first half. The Brazilian even went so far as to play the second card after rebuking the referee Hernández Hernández before facing the changing room tunnel pointing out the shield to the Majorcan fans.

It would be he himself who would star in the action that in the 60th minute offered Real Madrid the opportunity to equalize the contest, when Rajkovic brought him down heading towards the goal, and the referee awarded a penalty. Marco Asensio stood up to eleven meters and hit the bottom right, but the Balkan goalkeeper guessed his shot among the delirium of the stands.

The European champion kept insisting, but he crashed again and again with the Balearic wall. Only Mariano, with a shot that went over the crossbar after 87 minutes, and Toni Kroos shortly after with a shot from outside the area encouraged a team that finally left the islands empty.

--RESULT: RCD MALLORCA, 1 - REAL MADRID, 0 (1-0, at halftime).

RCD MALORCA: Rajkovic; Maffeo, Gio Gonzalez, Raillo, Nastasic, Jaume Costa; Baba (Battaglia, 78 mins), Ruiz de Galarreta (Grenier, 92 mins), Dani Rodriguez (Amath, 68 mins); Kang-in Lee (Sanchez, min.78) and Muriqi.

REAL MADRID: Monday; Carvajal, Nacho, Rüdiger, Camavinga; Valverde (Modric, 64th min), Tchouaméni (Kroos, 71st min), Ceballos (Wednesday, 71st min); Asensio (Marian, min.71), Rodrygo and Vinicius.

1-0, min.13: Nacho, at his own goal.

--REFEREE: Hernández Hernández (C. Las Palmas). He admonished Jaume Costa (min.61), Amath (min.72), Ruiz de Galarreta (min.80), Maffeo (min.87) and Raíllo (min.92) by Mallorca and Vinícius (min. .44), Ceballos (min.45 2), Fede Valverde (min.64), Modric (min.81) and Mariano (min.90) by Real Madrid.

--STADIUM: Mallorca Son Moix. 18,258 viewers.