A good day for all those who today decide to stop by my blog and find out, in case you have missed it, everything that has happened in the last few hours about the Spanish league, more specifically the match played by Real Madrid against Mallorca, a match like all those that take place in this competition is very important, perhaps more for one team than for the other. Those of us who follow this particular league very closely know that the dominance of a single club does not exist, it is a very close fight that reaches the final instances to reach the decision of the title.

Real Madrid did not arrive with the best of spirits after their last game, although it sounds illogical since they won the match, but during the process they would suffer important casualties and highlighting the proximity of other competitions, among these the Champions League. The merengue team would lose Karim Benzema and Eder Militao, two key players who have a lot of weight in their respective positions, so we would see some changes in the starting 11, an 11 that throughout this post I will be commenting and breaking down some details that you might find interesting.

Some say that playing in favor of the result is more difficult, but in my opinion, having to wait for the rival to fall to begin to see the fruits of the effort in the league standings is "frustrating" and EYE with this word because it could play an important role in the career of the merengue team in the remainder of the season. All this in reference to what may happen in a few hours in the Barcelona - Sevilla match.

Knowing these details beforehand, it was time to focus on the match that showed the protagonists entering the field and as if the DT merengue already had problems, he would have to assume another last minute casualty, the Belgian goalkeeper Courtois would be out of the lineup due to physical problems that occurred during the warm-up prior to the match, in his place the Ukrainian goalkeeper Lunin. Apart from this unexpected modification, in the defensive line Carvajal and Camavinga on the sides and in central defense Nacho and Rüdiger, remembering the absences of Mendy, Militao and Alaba, who could be available for Ancelotti but starting from the substitutes' bench.

In the midfield the Modric-Kroos duo would see rest again, the Italian DT would bet on Ceballos-Tchouameni-Valverde, in my opinion Carlos Ancelotti would already have his sights set on the start of the Club World Cup and the reservation of some players especially in midfield would be vital because in this competition usually see minutes much of the substitute squad that do not have much prominence, However, in soccer nothing is written and those matches that in principle look to be a daily victory are usually the most treacherous and Madrid had the perfect factors for this situation to change from being a possibility to a reality.

Finally, the offensive zone is a line that usually has many alternatives, but it is true that there are players that make the difference, such is the case of the French striker Karim Benzema who would come out in the previous game and of which I understand it is still unknown the type of injury he has and therefore the time he will be out for the team. The Merengue 9 is very important for the team not only because of what he can do individually and collectively, but also tactically this player tends to drag many marks, thus leaving a little more freedom to his teammates. The attacking trident would be formed by Vinicius Jr-Rodrygo-Asensio, an already used and known offensive that has given good results to the team.

It would be a shared first half, I would say more difficult for the Merengue team that would bet more on long distance shots from outside the opponent's area, but with little direction to the goal. The offensive forcefulness shown in recent matches would decline a little, this would allow Mallorca to take the stage and dare to hurt the team led by Ancelotti and in fact they would have the clearest chances, one of these culminating in a goal after a cross into the area for Muriqi to receive it with his head, beating Nacho and Lunin. In this goal there are several things to highlight, Tchouameni missed Muriqi's mark, having to solve Nacho who was behind the Mallorca striker, another of the mistakes in my opinion is the bad positioning of the goalkeeper who was too far forward. After a rectification, the goal would be defined as a goal against Nacho, given that in the dispute for the ball in the area, it hit the Spanish defender.

Being down on the scoreboard and without finding the way, Real Madrid continued to shoot from outside the area, not to mention that the team was forced to take long distance shots because of the numerous defense that Mallorca was putting up. Despite having a little more ball possession, Madrid did not transmit it in clear chances of danger, in the remainder of the first half there were few times in which the white team took advantage of the Brazilian Vinicius Jr. This was the end of a first half that called for more depth from the Merengue team.

A new opportunity in the second half of the match, none of the teams presented changes in their players on the field, everything would start as it ended. At the start of the second half, there was frustration on the part of Real Madrid due to the defensive blocks with which they collided, Mallorca would in fact on several occasions take a very advanced Merengue defense, winning their backs and generating very dangerous counterattacks.

Just when it seemed that there was no way of a direct shot at goal, a penalty in favor of Madrid would come and the one who would get from the penalty spot would be Asensio, this was the opportunity that the team was waiting for so much to be able to resurface and come back as they like so much, However, not everything would go as planned, Asensio would run to the penalty with some feints looking for the doubt of the goalkeeper of Mallorca Rajkovic, but the Serbian goalkeeper would be very safe and would collapse the illusions of the Merengues to return to the game stopping the shot of the Spanish striker.

It seemed that this was one of those days in which things would not work out for the Merengue team, almost no direct shots on goal and the chances of danger were not finished. After the early goal against and the missed penalty, the despair and frustrations began, among some could name Valverde who since his return from the World Cup has not been that player that makes a difference on the field, his discontent would be even more after his substitution by Modric, the Uruguayan has several games in which he has not completed the 90 minutes and this reflects a decrease in his performance, Madrid loses much offensive power if players like Valverde who normally provide dynamism are not at a good level of soccer.

The rest of the midfield line would be modified, Ancelotti would join Modric with Kroos and would add the recovered David Alaba who, being a substitution in defense, the idea is that he would contribute in attack.

It seemed that Madrid's goal could come at any moment, as Mallorca was getting more and more enclosed in their area, but without abandoning the intention of any counterattack that could arise.

The final minutes were getting heavier and heavier for Javier Aguirre's team and very short for the Whites, and they kept coming up with chances, some by Vinicius with no direction to the goal and another by Rüdiger with a header that went over the crossbar.

Sadly for Ancelotti's team the result would not change, Mallorca successfully achieved its goal of closing in behind, playing with Madrid's desperation and resisting until the last minute. Real Madrid lost one more opportunity to get closer to Barcelona, who with a victory today against Sevilla would be well placed in the standings with 8 points away.

Madrid must recover forcefulness, in other editions of the Santander League, when they are so surpassed in points, it is common to leave aside this competition and focus entirely on the Champions League and it is a pity because at the beginning of the season Madrid seemed to have no brakes and even more with the bad season that their usual rivals were presenting, one of them FC Barcelona itself, but that is soccer, a sport that is not predictable regardless of the data and statistics that can be studied, who has the last word is the ball that is so capricious in the different games.

It only remains to wait a few hours and see if Barza will take advantage of this fall of Madrid or leave them with the illusion of continuing in the race for the Santander League, for my part I say goodbye wishing you a happy almost beginning of the week waiting for you in a next opportunity!!!!

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