Real Madrid will be aiming to continue their good run of form when they take on Mallorca in La Liga on Sunday afternoon (14:00CET). Carlo Ancelotti’s side have won four out of their last five, but their hosts are unbeaten in their last four home matches, winning their last three.
Ancelotti will travel to the Balearic Islands without another two key players due to injury, with Eder Militao and captain Karim Benzema missing out due to injury. Ancelotti said in the aftermath of Thursday’s victory that he expected Benzema to be fit, but Sport believe that he will not play.
Dani Carvajal is expected to start at right back, with Nacho Fernandez moving into the centre of defence alongside Antonio Rudiger. Aurelien Tchouameni is predicted to start having returned from an ankle injury in midweek, with Toni Kroos dropping to the bench. Rodrygo looks set to start as the central striker, flanked with Vinicius Jr on the left and Federico Valverde on the right.
Mallorca will look to cause Real Madrid plenty of problems, and Vedan Muriqi will look to be the main architect of that. The Kosovan striker has had an impressive season in La Liga thus far, and will look to add to his eight league goals. In defence, Pablo Maffeo and Antonio Raillo are both expected to start, and will face off against Vinicius having both criticised the Brazilian in recent weeks.
It’s sure to be an intriguing affair when the two teams meet. Real Madrid will be keen to continue their good run of form before they travel to Morocco for the Club World Cup, but Mallorca will certainly not make life easy.
More must-reads: