Two goals within the span of a minute secured all three points for Real Madrid in a somewhat nervy 2–1 victory.
Real Madrid returned to the Santiago Bernabéu looking to maintain their perfect La Liga start under Xabi Alonso. After a few eye-catching squad decisions last weekend against Real Oviedo, the new boss reinserted Trent Alexander-Arnold, Éder Militão and Vinícius Júnior into his XI on Saturday night.
The decision almost had an immediate payoff for the hosts when Alexander-Arnold played a lovely ball from his own half to a streaking Kylian Mbappé, who momentarily found the game’s opener in the seventh minute. The Frenchman strayed just offside, though, and found his goal wiped away after a VAR review.
It took some time, but Mallorca settled into the game and soon quieted the sea of white shirts in the crowd. Former Barcelona man Pablo Torre delivered a clinical ball from the corner flag that Vedat Muriqi headed past Thibaut Courtois to put the visitors up 1–0.
Los Blancos found themselves trailing for the first time this season, searching for a response before halftime. Alonso’s men then struck twice in the span of one minute to turn the game around. Álvaro Carreras floated a ball to the back post to find Dean Huijsen, who headed the ball across goal to Arda Güler. The 20-year-old made no mistakes from a few yards out and headed home his side’s equalizer.
In the blink of an eye, Vinícius Júnior bagged the go-ahead goal for Real Madrid with a brilliant piece of individual skill. The Brazilian drove forward, opting to keep the ball himself rather than picking out one of his teammates, before shifting to his left foot to create enough space to fire his second goal of the season into the back of the net.
Real Madrid thought they found a third in the 55th minute through Güler once again, but the goal was disallowed for a handball in the build-up after a lengthy, controversial VAR review. The hosts would have loved to bag an insurance goal, especially in the latter stages of the match when Mallorca looked on the cusp of stealing a point, but they could not find the back of the net again.
Alonso’s men closed out the game rather unconvincingly, but still collected three points to go top of the La Liga table. Los Blancos’ next match comes against Real Sociedad in two weeks following the September international break.
*Ratings provided by FotMob*
|
Position / Player |
Ratings (Out of 10) |
|---|---|
|
GK: Thibaut Courtois |
6.5 |
|
RB: Trent Alexander-Arnold |
7.7 |
|
CB: Éder Militão |
7.5 |
|
CB: Dean Huijsen |
8.1 |
|
LB: Álvaro Carreras |
7.4 |
|
CM: Fede Valverde |
8 |
|
CM: Aurélien Tchouaméni |
7.3 |
|
CM: Arda Güler |
7.7 |
|
RW: Franco Mastantuono |
6.9 |
|
ST: Kylian Mbappé |
7.5 |
|
LW: Vinícius Júnior |
8.3 |
|
SUB: Brahim Díaz (66’ for Mastantuono) |
6.4 |
|
SUB: Dani Carvajal (72’ for Alexander-Arnold) |
6.6 |
|
SUB: Dani Ceballos (72’ for Güler) |
6.5 |
|
SUB: Rodrygo (72’ for Vinícius Júnior) |
6.3 |
|
SUB: Gonzalo García (90+5’ for Mbappé) |
N/A |
Subs not used: Andriy Lunin (GK), Sergio Mestre (GK), Antonio Rüdiger, David Alaba, Fran García, Raúl Asencio, Thiago Pitarch.
Player of the Match: Vinícius Júnior
Mallorca (5-3-2): Leo Román; Mateu Morey, Martin Valjent, Antonio Raíllo, Marash Kumbulla, Toni Lato; Manu Morlanes, Sergi Darder, Pablo Torre; Mateo Joseph, Vedat Muriqi.
Substitutes: Samú Costa, Antonio Sánchez, Johan Mojica, Jan Virgili, Takuma Asano.
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Source: https://www.si.com/soccer/real-madrid-player-ratings-vs-mallorca-8-30-25
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