La Liga: Time for Real Madrid to Put Their Foot Down Starting With a Mallorca Win

Real Madrid vs Mallorca

Real Madrid ended the year 2023 at the top of the La Liga standings, and they’re hoping to keep it that way as we approach the second half of the 2023-24 campaign.

The fact that Los Blancos are in this position despite their injury woes is quite impressive. But then again, this is what’s expected of them since Real Madrid have (and should) always be in contention for titles.

They play Mallorca in the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday, where they can pick up more points to widen their slim lead over Girona, who face Atletico Madrid, a team that is theoretically tougher than them, as my SBOTOP colleague recently discussed.

Mallorca are 13 places below Real Madrid, so the odds are stacked against them. However, the visitors are capable of pulling out a positive result here, as shown in their previous league matches.

Talking Points

Better days are coming for Real Madrid

Real Madrid supporters have two reasons to be excited for 2024.

First is the La Liga 2024 news that Carlo Ancelotti just signed a new deal with the club up until 2026, effectively ending all speculation over his future.

Prior to his new two-year extension, Ancelotti was one of the top candidates to eventually become the head coach of the Brazilian national team, but the Italian loves being at Madrid so much, so he decided to extend his stay.

And the second reason is the rehab progress of their injured stars, as Eduardo Camavinga, Dani Carvajal, and Vinicius Junior are all closing in on their respective returns, with their Spanish Super Cup date against Atletico Madrid being the earliest return date.

Eduardo Camavinga’s recovery, in particular, is almost like a holiday miracle.

After he injured his knee while on duty with France during the November international break, it was estimated that the midfielder would be out for at least 10 weeks, but it has been reduced to six to seven weeks, and he is already out practicing with the senior squad.

The only thing that’s going against Real Madrid right now is their poor backline depth since Nacho is not available against Mallorca to serve his suspension after being sent off against Alaves last week.

With the likes of David Alaba and Eder Militao already out for long spells, Ancelotti may have to field Aurelien Tchouameni as Antonio Rudiger’s centre-half partner.

Mallorca coping with Muriqi’s absence

Los Bermellones haven’t lost since November 26, which is quite impressive considering they have been playing without their talisman for a while now.

Vedat Muriqi injured his calf while playing for Kosovo last November, and he hasn’t played since. The good thing for Javier Aguirre’s squad, though, is that they didn’t skip a beat in his absence since a couple of players have stepped up in Muriqi’s absence.

Abdon Prats and Dani Rodriguez have held it down for Mallorca by combining for seven goals and four assists this season.

Meanwhile, Cyle Larin, who joined from Real Valladolid last summer, opened his account this season by scoring the winning goal against Sevilla last month.

History

Mallorca had one of the biggest upsets last season, as they defeated Real Madrid 1-0 in February 2023 because Nacho recorded an own goal in the 13^th minute. Prior to that, Mallorca had lost 11 of their last 13 meetings with Real Madrid in La Liga (W1, D1).

Real Madrid have won their last seven home games against Mallorca in La Liga, their longest winning home run against them in the Spanish top-flight, averaging 3.4 goals at the Santiago Bernabeu in that period.

Los Blancos are currently unbeaten at home for 18 games in a row across all competitions (W15, D3). And should they stay undefeated against Los Bermellones, they would equal their best home streak with Carlo Ancelotti in charge, which spanned between April 2022 and February 2023 (W14, D5).

Betting Tip

To contextualise why the visitors are the underdogs, let’s take a look at the La Liga 2024 odds. In the 1×2 market, Real Madrid are 1.22 favourites, while Mallorca are priced at 9.50, and a draw is at 5.50 odds.

Other than our recommended bet above, you can also consider Over 3.00 at 2.12, Total Goal 2-3 at 2.00, and Total Goal 4-6 at 2.72.

However, if you feel that lightning will strike twice for Los Bermellones, then check out bets like Total Goal 0-1 at 4.29 and Correct Score 1-0 in favour of Mallorca at a mammoth 27.00.

 

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