Real Madrid remain five points behind leaders and rivals Barcelona, and their midweek win worryingly saw both centre-back Eder Militão and centre-forward Karim Benzema withdrawn due to injuries.
Mallorca
As the hosts won each of Mallorca’s last six La Liga matches on the day ‘to nil’, they might welcome playing at home following last weekend’s 2-0 defeat at Cadiz. After loaning in defender Ludwig Augustinsson from Sevilla and midfielder Manu Morlanes from Villarreal late in the transfer window, they’ll hope both can bolster their bid to remain in the top half of the table. There’s added needle as they host Real Madrid after Mallorca captain Antonio Raíllo criticised visiting forward Vinicius Junior, calling him a ‘poor role model’ for aspiring players. He will hope his words don’t come back to haunt him then, as although the hosts have scored exactly once in each of their last four home league games, they’ve only won one of the last eight home H2Hs against Los Blancos.
Real Madrid
One goal might not be enough to see off Madrid, though, who won here 3-0 last term, and they dispatched Valencia 2-0 on Thursday with the aforementioned Vinícius on the scoresheet. They remain five points behind leaders and rivals Barcelona, and their midweek win worryingly saw both centre-back Eder Militão and centre-forward Karim Benzema withdrawn due to injuries. While manager Carlo Ancelotti played down the club’s latest injury concerns, it’s worth nothing that either Militao or Benzema have scored in each of their last six away matches in the league, part of a longer run of 11 consecutive La Liga road games in which Real netted. They’ll want to take charge here, though, as the first scorer won each of their last nine La Liga away games.
Attention will be on Raillo following his pre-match comments, but he’s helped Mallorca keep six league-clean sheets this term. Another one might depend on him stifling Vinicius, who marked becoming the youngest non-academy player to make 200 Madrid appearances with his goal against Valencia. Mallorca are unbeaten after scoring first at home in the league this term, on each occasion netting exactly once.