Real Madrid vs Mallorca

La Liga  Season 2024/25 First Game

18 August 2024

Real Madrid vs Mallorca

Score 1 = 1

First Half Analysis

It was Real Madrid’s first game of the 2024-25 Laliga season. The fans and everyone else hoped for a great show, as we had one glittering player added to our super team: Kylian Mbappe.

The 1st five minutes of the game was well played by Mallorca and already they had two corner balls.  Inside the fifth minute, a Mallorca player had a good shot from just outside of the 18-yard line, luckily Courtois was able to tip the ball out for a corner. This was a good try on the target from the Mallorca player. The immediate corner ball was cleared by a Madrid player and the ball landed at the feet of Mbappe, and he ran with the ball from his own half all the way to Mallorca D box but he fell down just inside the box. The referee let the game continue and a penalty was not given. 

Around the 13th minute, when the pace of the game was going in favor of Real Madrid. Inside the Mallorca box, Mbappe had the ball which he passed to Vini, and Vini cleverly back-passed for Rodrygo and Rodrygo shot the ball curving for the right side of the post where the keeper could not reach at all. Hence Real Madrid scored a goal by Rodrygo even though he had four defending players in front of him. It was a superb ball that went curling into the post which was extremely difficult for the keeper to stop. 

Rodrygo superb goal

Mallorca had one attack from the left side, it was a good cross pass, and while they had two players running for it, nobody could get the ball anyway. It could have been a dangerous ball for Courtois. Just about the 19th minute, Rodrygo had a good shot from the right side of the post at Vini’s pass, but the keeper could punch that ball away for a corner. 

At one point Rudiger had a powerful ground-level shot from outside of the box and it went out just by inches only. In about the 25th minute, Vini gave a pass to Mbappe from the left side into the 6-yard box. Mbappe kicked the ball with his right foot in a tight situation but the ball only found the outside net of the left post. It was the 1st real chance for Mbappe.

So far in the game, whenever Vinicius gets the ball, Mallorca fans whistle and tantalize him, and Vini, at one point, does feel quite irritated at these reactions to him.

In the 35th minute, Real Madrid players had good control of the ball for a long time inside the opposition’s D box area, and it could have been a good opportunity for a goal, but it could not be so. About the 38th minute, Mallorca had a long cross and a player headed the ball targetting for a goal, but the ball went away high and out over the pole. 

Mallorca had a good running shot at the post which was stopped by Courtois but he could not keep the ball, the stopped ball was again tipped for a goal by another Mallorca player. Luckily Courtois could finger that ball too and the ball rolled around just near the goal post, and Rudiger happened to come to the rescue and sent the ball out avoiding the danger for a Mallorca corner. 

In one instance, a Mallorca player nudges the calf of Vini with his studs while fighting for the ball and Vini gets hurt. The player got the yellow card and so did Mallorca’s coach too for complaining about this yellow card.

Upto half-time Mallorca too did play their game well with much resilience and strength by not giving many chances to Real Madrid players and rather creating their own chances of good attacks. The possession was like 60 to 40 percent in favor of Real Madrid. 

Second Half Analysis

In the 2nd half, there was no change in any player, the same lot was there on the ground. Again whenever Vini had the ball, Mallorca supporters whistled and tried to discourage the superstar. At 47the minute, Militao had a long goal shot but it got deflected by an opponent player for a corner. 

Up to the 48th minute, Real Madrid had a total of 13 attacks of which 3 were from the center area, 3 from the right side area, and the other rest 7 attacks were from the left wing side. It is Vini’s side that the maximum attacks, as usual, were coming from.

In the 52nd minute, Mallorca built up an attack from the left side, and in the tussle, Tchouameni sent the ball out for a Mallorca corner. The corner kick was just superb enough to find their player Muriqi, a dangerous player, who rightly headed the ball home targetting the right upper part of the net. Courtois could just finger the ball but was unable to stop going for a goal. Thus, Mallorca very bravely scored up level with the super team Real Madrid. 

The goal seemed to have fueled the Mallorca players and in about the 56th minute, there was another header ball from the same player, Muriqi, but it was straight into the hands of Courtois. Real Madrid players were panicked as they were on a level with the opposition and must get the winning goal somehow soon. 

Last 15 minutes Mallorca had been playing better and creating more attacks with confidence. Their leveled goal had even boosted their confidence playing the game more open and creating more attacks. In the 60th minute, Mbappe took the ball inside the box area from the left side, but his pass to Valverde was blocked by an opponent and the attempt failed. A minute after Vini tried to shoot from just outside of the 18-yard line, but the ball flew a way away from the goal post. 

Mbappe had a good low shot at the goalpost from inside of the 18-yard line from the left side of the ground, but as the angle was tight the keeper was able to get hold of the ball easily. But we can see, if the players keep feeding the ball to Mbappe he could produce the winning game for his team. But looking at the replay of this moment, if Mbappe had passed the ball to running Vini on the right, instead of his own shot, Vini had a higher chance of scoring a goal as he had a wider angle of the goal post. 

So, it is, extremely crucial that what kind of a ball you play at such times decides the game too. Players mind and decisions need to make quick and right decisions at such crucial moments to win a modern-day football game. 

Upto 63rd minute shots on target by Real Madrid were 3 and Mallorca 4. This showed the game was not going the way it should for Real Madrid up to this time.

In the 63rd minute, Modric replaced Tchouameny and also the Captain’s armband from Carvajal. Tchouameny was lacking the good midfielder role as that of Modric and Kroos. I think the mid-fielder is the one who gives some clever passes to the forwards looking at their situations and so on. The more such balls the forwards receive the more goals scoring chances for the team. But I felt Tchouameny lacked such roles in both games, this one, as well as in the Super Cup final. 

In the 70th minute, there was a beautiful build-up by Real Madrid. Modric passed the ball to Bellingham, and he in turn passed the ball very smartly to Mbappe. Mbappe from the left side of the post-one-to-one with the keeper, but again his ground shot was blocked by the keeper’s foot and the ball flew up the air, and running Rodrygo was able to hit the ball, alas, the ball went high up over the goal post. If Rodrygo could just hit the ball right, it could have easily found the back of the net. These two chances were missed by the Real Madrid team in a matter of seconds and it was so unfortunate.

In the 74th minute, Mallorca built an attack. A cross pass from the left side was a good ball for their player, Muriqi, but he was covered by two Real Madrid defenders this time. Mendy got the head ball and sent it out for a corner to Mallorca. So far, Real Madrid has failed to press Mallorca enough and produce constant chances for goals. On the other hand, Mallorca is proving to be a strong contender in this match. 

Modric had one good shot at the post after two continuous corner balls in the 81st minute, the keeper stopped the ball but could not keep it, and there were no Real Madrid players nearby and a Mallorca defender cleared away the ball with no danger. 

Real Madrid players pushed hard for a couple of minutes in the Mallorca area looking for a winning goal, but they were unable to crack the compact wall of players of Mallorca. In the 87th minute, a Mallorca player attacked from the left wing and beat Militao for a cross ball and the ball looked dangerously open, luckily Mendy kicked the ball. But still, the ball just went to a Mallorca player’s feet just about the 18-yard line. The player took a dangerous powerful shot at the goal, and it was well blocked by Rudiger again the same player got the ball and quickly kicked the ball at the post, the ball rolled just outside of the left post and a dangerous situation was avoided for  Real Madrid.

Again in the 89th minute after Real Madrid changed 3 players, Modric missed a passed ball from Rudiger, and there was the Mallorca attack towards Real Madrid’s goalpost. Mallorca 3 players to Real Madrid 2 and it was a very dangerous situation. A Mallorca player passed a cross the ball for a shot,  the receiving player couldn’t get that ball, but another player found the ball and he had a close and powerful shot at the post and everyone thought it was their winning goal, for sure. Again with luck, the ball blasted over the top bar and was a great relief to the Real Madrid team and their supporters. Surely this was a huge opportunity for Mallorca to seal their victory against Real Madrid. 

In the 91st minute, Rodrygo led the attack and his pass got a rebound from an opponent player and the ball went into the post, luckily the keeper was smart enough to get hold of this rebound ball quickly. 

At the dying extra time when Real Madrid was building their attack, Mendy happened to tackle a Mallorca player dangerously, and he was immediately given a red card. I think it was a frustration coming out of a player and such unfortunate things happen. Seconds after the red card the final whistle was blown. 

This time Vinicius and Mbappe were well contained by Mallorca players, at times two players were covering each of them to restrain their attacks and they had been successful. Mallorca players led more dangerous attacks and also, they displayed more compact defense in comparison to Real Madrid. 

In this game, it looked like the Real Madrid players never found that rhythm of the game they usually find and create opportunities. At least they should have shown some desperation and much pressing at the last minutes of the game for a winning goal and, we did not see that kind of game at all in this game. Also, Ancelotti’s players switching places did not seem to have much effect on the game at all or rather affected adversely. Real Madrid needs to play much much better than this to better in future games. 

Also, I, kind of, felt a lack of Toni and Modric magic passes to forwards, and keep hammering at the opposition field and creating chance after chance and securing victory for the team. Let us hope Real Madrid players can do better in upcoming games. 

STATS

Real Madrid                     Mallorca

        13         shots                    12

         5         shots on target     5

         67%    Possession           33%

          6        Fouls                      11

          7        Corners                  8

           0       Yellow Cards        1

           1        Red Cards             0