Can Mallorca Spoil Mbappe’s La Liga Debut?

Mallorca vs Real Madrid 

The defending La Liga and Champions League winners have revamped their already monstrous squad ahead of their season opener against Mallorca on August 19.

Coming off a UEFA Super Cup victory against Atalanta, Los Blancos are primed to start the new campaign with a bang, whilst a draw—or any scoreline that doesn’t have them losing by a mile, for that matter—is considered a win in Mallorca’s books.

So, will the juggernauts start mightily? Or do the underdogs have something for them? We’re as excited as you are to find out.

 

Talking Points

All gas, no brakes for Ancelotti’s side

La Liga was Madrid’s playground en route to winning a double last season. They lost only once (against Atletico) and were destroying teams left and right, if not salvaging last-minute ties and winners.

You could play the 89 minutes with little to no error, and think that you’ll be coming out of the match with a good result when, all of a sudden, their counter-attack hits you like a train with a few ticks left on the clock.

Some would call it witchcraft; others call it luck. But it really is down to just how organised and well-oiled they are from top to bottom.

They have a genius for a coach in Carlo Ancelotti, and he’s got world-class players at his disposal; of course, they’ll run the league.

With the signing of Kylian Mbappe and Endrick over the summer, their chances of winning the whole thing just got higher. Looking back to last year, their only mishaps were against a defiant Atletico Madrid, who got the better of them on two occasions.

Sure, they’ve lost the services of one of the world’s finest midfielders—Toni Kroos—to retirement, but with their stacked line-up, Ancelotti will surely have the position covered in no time.

So far, the only negatives this Madrid squad are facing are injuries to David Alaba and Eduardo Camavinga. The former, suffered a knee injury in November of last year, whilst the latter injured his knee right before the Super Cup match.

 

Mallorca face an uphill battle

The Balearic-based club will be under new management this season as Jagoba Arrasate takes over from former boss Javier Aguirre.

For Arrasate, the first order of business should be aiming to maintain their status as a mid-table side, or at least finish a bit higher.

They would also want to improve on scoring, as they ended last season with 33 goals in 38 matches played. In fact, Vedat Muriqi—their leading scorer in the league last season—only had seven goals.

Los Piratas will be hoping that new signings Takuma Asano, Johan Mojica and Mateu Morey deliver as the club challenges to stay alive in a shark-infested league.

 

History

The two sides have met 32 times since 2003, with Madrid leading the head-to-head battle with 22 wins to Mallorca’s 8, whilst the other two meetings ended in a tie.

Los Blancos completed the double against Los Piratas last season, and they will be looking for a repeat. However, you won’t have to look far for Mallorca’s last victory over the defending champions.

Back in 2023, despite getting dominated, Mallorca managed to sneak a 1-0 win against Madrid via an own goal from Nacho.

 

Betting Tip

The SBOTOP La Liga 2024 odds have Madrid as the heavy favourites for this one, and rightfully so. Carlo Ancelotti’s squad are a treat to watch and have, by far, the best team in the entire La Liga, if not in Europe.

They produced a bunch of La Liga 2024 highlights last time around and will undoubtedly do more of the same this season.

But if you think the underdogs can generate a surprising result, a highly unlikely Mallorca win is priced at 6.10, whilst odds for a draw is at 3.88.

Real Madrid are only humans and are capable of mistakes, but expect them to roll over Mallorca and show no mercy.

The front three of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo will be a thorn to Los Piratas’ defence.

Meanwhile, expect Fede Valverde, Aurelien Tchouameni and Jude Bellingham to be pulling the strings in midfield, whilst the back four of Antonio Rudiger, Eder Militao, Ferland Mendy and Dani Carvajal will be providing a solid cover at the back.

I can go on and on, and the only time that I can think of an upset is if Madrid shoot themselves in the foot.

   

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