A draw to start the league season

Real Madrid kicked off the defence of their league title with a draw against Mallorca at Son Moix. Rodrygo opened the scoring with a superb strike in the first half, but Muriqi levelled matters in the 53rd minute. The home side had two chances to take the lead, firstly with a deflected shot from Dani Rodríguez and then a left-footed effort from Samu Costa that challenged Courtois‘ reflexes. Madrid then seized the initiative and made no mistake with their first dangerous move (13 mins). Vini Jr. linked up with Rodrygo with a back-heel in the box and, after getting in front of two opponents, he unleashed a perfect right-footed curling shot towards the left-hand post to make it 0-1.

The Brazilian then went close to grabbing his second five minutes later, but Greif pulled off a fine save to keep him out. Ancelotti‘s side set the tempo with their thoughts on extending their lead. Rüdiger came close with a powerful long-range effort that flew narrowly wide. In the 25th minute, Mbappé fired into the side netting after a through ball from Vini Jr. Mallorca replied with energy and called Courtois into action before the end of the first half. First, he denied Asano’s effort and then Muriqui, who had got on the end of a rebound just yards from goal. In the added time of the first half, Maffeo trod on Vini Jr’s calf and was shown a yellow card by Soto Grado.

The side from the Balearic Islands found the equaliser through Muriqi’s header from a corner at the resumption of the second half. Madrid were quick to create another chance in their opponents’ box. Mbappé could have made it 1-2 just after the hour mark with a well-struck shot that Greif did well to keep out. The two came up against each other again in the 70th minute. The goalkeeper once again denied the French striker following a left-footed effort.

Penalty for Militão
A controversial moment came in the next action. Modric played the ball into the area, Bellingham headed the ball at the back post and Valjent held Militão by the shirt and unbalanced him as he headed from inside the six-yard box, but neither Soto Grado nor the VAR awarded a penalty. Greif was still his team’s best player after this incident and, in the 81st minute, he kept out Modrić’ s shot from near the edge of the area. The game was end-to-end with Mallorca taking advantage of this with quick transitions. The game finished with Real Madrid reduced to one man down after Mendy was shown a straight red card.