Mallorca 1-0 Real Madrid: Los Blancos suffer huge dent to their title defense in La Liga

The defending champions Real Madrid have suffered a shock defeat away from home by a narrow margin of 1-0 against mid-table Mallorca. This result has surely impacted their title race cause this would give their arch-rivals FC Barcelona the opportunity to go 8 points clear at the top.

The Catalan side would play Sevilla later in the day and they would be motivated more than ever to have a positive result at the Spotify Camp Nou.

In the match against Mallorca, Madrid had a blow before even the start of the game as their first-choice goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois had to be withdrawn from the starting lineup due to injury and he was replaced by Andry Lunin.

Mallorca stuns Real Madrid in La Liga clash

And apart from the Belgian keeper, Ancelotti also couldn’t count on important players like Karim Benzema and Eder Militao who were injured too. He had also rested Toni Kross and Luka Modric which did not end well for the team and hence they had to enter in the second half of the game.

Since the kick-off, Madrid really didn’t take any control of the game and this was a huge opportunity for the home side and they took advantage of it. This is because at the 13th-minute mark, Dani Rodriguez sent in a cross and that cross was deflected by Nacho into the top corner of the Madrid goal and this gave the home team the lead in the match. After that goal, Mallorca completely changed their style of play and tactics as they played in a very defensive shape in order to hold on to the lead.

The Title Is Slipping Away For Real Madrid

After the second half, Ancelotti brought in many changes and Los Blancos were showing a lot more intensity and urgency to score a goal.

They knew that once they score in the game, Mallorca would panic and with the experience that Madrid has, they could later on successfully enforce a comeback and win the encounter.

And because of their intensity in the second half, they were awarded a penalty at the 60th minute but Marco Asensio’s kick was saved from the spot by Pedrag Rajkovic.

After the penalty save, the crowd were just sensational and it clearly motivated the players to defend for their lives. In the end, they managed to keep a clean sheet against an extraordinary Real Madrid attack and pulled off a historic victory. Now Ancelotti’s team would head off to the Club World Cup where they’ll face the Egyptian club Al Ahly in the semi-finals.