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Defending Spanish champions Real Madrid fell to an embarrassing 1-0 defeat to 10th-placed Mallorca on matchday 20 of La Liga on Sunday afternoon (5 February). Their defeat, followed by Barcelona’s 3-0 win over Sevilla later that day, left them eight points behind the Blaugrana at the top of the table.
Los Blancos started the game without Karim Benzema and first-choice left-back Ferland Mendy, with both of them missing the trip due to hamstring issues. Operating without two of their key players, Carlo Ancelotti’s men struggled to find their footing in the opening exchanges.
The Whites found themselves a goal down after just 13 minutes of play, with Vedat Muriqi’s flicked header taking a deflection off Nacho Fernandez and going past Andriy Lunin. Madrid surprisingly had no response to the setback as they ended the first half without creating any clear-cut goalscoring opportunities.
Twelve minutes into the second half, Vinicius Junior won Real Madrid a penalty after Mallorca goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic clipped his heels. Marco Asensio stepped up to take the resulting spot kick, but Rajkovic went the right way to deny him.
Six minutes later, Asensio cut in from the right to make amends for his penalty miss, going for goal with a low effort. However, his shot did not bend in time and zipped past the left-hand post. A couple of minutes later, Vinicius Junior went for goal from close range, but, once again, Rajkovic came to his side’s rescue.
In the 87th minute, Mariano Diaz met with David Alaba’s out-swinging cross with a volleyed effort. It clipped the top-left corner of the woodwork and went behind. In injury time, Antonio Rudiger headed Toni Kroos’ cross toward the Mallorca goal. His effort narrowly missed the target, ending the night in agony for Real Madrid.
Here are five Real Madrid players who were all over the place in Sunday’s defeat at Son Moix.
#5 Rodrygo
With Karim Benzema ruled out, Rodrygo was deployed as a false nine against Mallorca. A natural winger, Rodrygo failed to thrive in that role and remained on the fringes throughout the game. He attempted as many as four shots but none landed on target (three off-target, one blocked).
On Sunday afternoon, the Brazilian forward lost possession nine times, misplaced three of four attempted crosses, committed a foul and lost three duels. Real Madrid needs him to step up big-time if they are to remain in the La Liga title race this season.
#4 Dani Ceballos
After a string of stellar displays, Dani Ceballos fell flat on his face against Mallorca. He lodged as many as four key passes, but the quality of the deliveries was not up to the mark. He lost more duels than he won, misplaced a few passes, and lost possession cheaply at times. Ceballos often struggled to deal with Mallorca's burst of pace, and, as a result, was breezed past quite a few times.
Over the course of the game, Ceballos lost possession 11 times. He was dribbled past thrice, came out second-best in four ground duels, and misplaced nine passes. Ceballos also picked up a booking for a needless row with the referee at the end of the first half.
#3 Federico Valverde
Federico Valverde, one of Real Madrid’s best players this season, did his best to make a mark on Sunday but fell rather short. His wayward shots came nowhere close to beating the keeper, he gave possession away cheaply and committed two fouls. His tackle on Kang-In Lee in the 64th minute landed him in the referee’s book.
Against Mallorca, Valverde lost three ground duels, ceded possession seven times, had no effort on target, and misplaced a long ball.
#2 Marco Asensio
Former Mallorca man Marco Asensio had an encounter to forget on Sunday. He was jeered by the home crowd from start to finish and failed to win the affection of traveling fans as well.
The Spaniard, who spent the afternoon practically as a bystander, missed a crucial penalty in the 60th minute. Asensio went for the bottom-right corner with his spot kick, which Rajkovic read and made an acrobatic save to send the ball behind for a corner.
Penalty miss aside, Asensio misplaced all four of his attempted crosses, lost possession 10 times, made only 21 accurate passes, and did not create any goalscoring opportunities.
#1 Daniel Carvajal
One of the most experienced players in Sunday’s lineup, right-back Daniel Carvajal was expected to provide width to Real Madrid's attack. Despite not being under much pressure, Carvajal failed to venture forward, which made it easier for Mallorca to mark Asensio. He also lost possession rather cheaply and failed to emerge as a leading figure when his team desperately needed him.
On La Liga matchday 20, Carvajal lost possession 17 times, misplaced four long balls, and failed to land any of his three attempted crosses on target. He also lost four of six duels, was dribbled past once and failed to pull off either of his attempted dribbles.
