Real Madrid’s defense of the La Liga title got off to a slow start as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Mallorca. Vedat Muriqi’s header in the second half canceled out Rodrygo’s early goal and ruined Kylian Mbappe’s much-anticipated debut on Sunday.
The so-called “New Galacticos” of Real, which included Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, and Vinicius Jr., had a dull game at Son Moix, which brought the team back to earth.
Real Madrid got off to a good start. In the 13th minute, Vinicius Jr. tipped the ball back for Rodrygo to score a beautiful curling goal that put his team ahead.
But Mallorca started to take some chances on the counterattacks as Real got more and more angry. They had the ball most of the time but didn’t have any ideas up front.
Vinicius may have been Real’s only tool against a disciplined Mallorca defense since Mbappe and Bellingham were not there. But the Brazilian lost his temper, and the people in the area made fun of him every time he touched the ball.
Vinicius has had a hard time at Son Moix Stadium. In February 2023, he was racially abused by the local fans who were there.
On Sunday, he got into a few heated arguments with rivals. The judge told him to stop staring into the crowd as if he wanted the fans to yell at him even more.
There were three great saves by Thibaut Courtois in the Real goal to keep the away team ahead, but Muriqi’s strong header from a corner kick in the 53rd minute tied the game for the home team.
After that, Real was irritated by Vinicius’s problems and Mallorca’s equalizer. They only really threatened twice, both times when Mbappe made similar moves and ran up the left channel to start counterattacks. However, Dominik Greif in goal for Mallorca stopped both of his angled shots with great skill.
After Ferland Mendy was given a straight red card for a sliding tackle deep into extra time, Real finished the game with 10 men down.
The day before, Barcelona came back to beat Valencia 2-1 even though they were missing a few key starters. The next day, Real Madrid, who were full of stars, worked hard but couldn’t get Mbappe to join their team.