Three talking points from Mallorca 1-0 Real Madrid | OneFootball

An injury-marred Real Madrid dropped three points to an inspired Mallorca on Sunday as they continued their unimpressive run of form, falling to a 1-0 defeat.

Nacho Fernandez’s own goal was what separated the two sides at full-time. Despite their best efforts and a penalty kick awarded in their favour, Carlo Ancelotti’s men just could not break through the Palma-based side’s defence.

Madrid Universal brings you three talking points from Mallorca’s narrow win over the defending champions.

1. A series of unfortunate events

Holding the tag of being one of the world’s most supreme football teams, it does not sit right to blame any Real Madrid defeat on external factors. Given the world-class squad at the manager’s disposal, excuses are unacceptable, especially in the league.

Yet, Los Blancos’ game against Mallorca seemed jinxed from the very start. As the game progressed, a domino effect set off and the situation went from bad to worse.

The first of several blows was inflicted on Ancelotti well before kickoff. Heading into the clash, the Italian tactician was already under pressure having to deal with the absences of Karim Benzema and Eder Militao. The situation significantly worsened at Son Moix.

Thibaut Courtois suffered a sudden setback during the warm-up ahead of the game and had to be replaced with Andriy Lunin at the last minute. Needless to say, the sudden change in personnel did not do the Ukrainian international any good.

Just 13 minutes into the game, Vedat Muriqi’s flick took a deflection off Nacho Fernandez and flew into the top-right corner of the goal. Not only would that be the only goal but also the match-winning moment for Mallorca.

2. The missed chance and a missed forward

Asensio missed a penalty against Mallorca (Photo by Rafa Babot/Getty Images)

After going down a goal early, Real Madrid regained a semblance of control of the game instantly. Over the first 45 minutes, the visitors had over 70% of the ball, yet, could not create a single big chance. The men in white struggled to find holes in the Mallorca and had very little to show until the 57th minute.

Just short of the hour mark, Predrag Rajkovic caught Vinicius Jr in the area and left the referee with a simple decision. Marco Asensio stood over his team’s best chance at equalising and smashed it into the bottom right corner, only for the Mallorca goalkeeper to make amends for the penalty he had conceded.

To miss a spot-kick after an hour of turmoil took the steam out of the Merengues briefly. While the shot-stopper is due his share of credit, it is almost criminal for a Real Madrid player to let go of a golden goal-scoring chance in a game of such minor margins.

It is clear that the men in white missed Benzema on Sunday, not only for the spot-kick but for his frightening presence in the opposition box.

Real Madrid’s attack looked disjointed against Mallorca, aimlessly passing the ball around without having any clear target man. The situation slightly improved after Mariano’s introduction, yet, it would have been a total difference ballgame with the Frenchman on the field.

3. An unwanted gift

The crushing result at Son Moix means that Ancelotti’s men have now dropped five of their last nine points in La Liga. When coupled with the defeat at La Ceramica last month, the aggregate adds up to eight points dropped in just five games.

Barcelona are enjoying one of their strongest campaigns in recent years and had a solid five-point gap over their arch-rivals before matchday 20.

To catch a team in such form required the men in white to stay steady and wait for the right chance to pounce. However, it now appears that they need a plan B.

Sunday’s defeat to Mallorca could place Real Madrid a whopping eight points behind Barcelona. The Catalans play Sevilla later in the night, and a win would assure them the mammoth margin.

There may be 18 rounds to go in Spain, but the title hopes already seem to be slipping away from the defending champions’ camp. All hope is not lost, but it would be better for the team to stay away from any such dream if the current form and mentality is to stay.