Real Madrid's LaLiga title hopes suffered another blow after going down 1-0 to Real Mallorca on Sunday afternoon.
LaLiga
Result: Real Mallorca 1-0 Real Madrid
Date: 05 February 2023
Venue: Visit Mallorca Estadio
Los Blancos were without the services of first choice goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who picked up an injury in the warm. He's place was taken by Andre Lunin.
Carlo Ancelotti recalled Rodrygo to the front-line in place of Karim Benzema, who joined Eder Militao on the injury list after the midweek action.
Mallorca got off to the perfect start when as Dani Rodriguez did well to pick out Vedat Muriqi, who saw his looping header sail over Lunin on 13 minutes.
Los Blancos threw bodies forward in search of an equaliser and dominated possession, but clear cut openings were hard to come by in the final third.
Without a focal point in the attack, the home side looked toothless in the attack as Mallorca goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic barely had a save to make in the opening 45 minutes.
That almost changed in the second half when Los Blancos were awarded a penalty on 57 minutes after Rajkovic brought down Vinicius Junior, but Marco Asensio saw his spot-kick saved by the Mallorca shot-stopper.
Ancelotti responded with a few changes after that as Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Mariano Diaz came on for Federico Valverde, Aurelien Tchouameni and Asensio.
Los Blancos had a couple chances to pull themselves level, but Rajkovic produced another fine save to deny Vinicius from close range with time running out.
The visitors should have levelled matters with three minutes to go when David Alaba picked out Mariano, who sent his volley wide of the mark from close range.
Antonio Rudiger went close to snatching an equaliser in the final minute of the clash but his header sailed just wide as Mallorca held on for the win.
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