La Liga Preview: Real Madrid v Mallorca
After Barcelona squeezed past Athletic Bilbao, the ball is back in Madrid’s hands in the La Liga title race
Date – Wednesday, June 24, 2020; Kick-Off – 23:00 Mecca; Channel – 12 HD
At the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium, Real Madrid will have a chance to entrench themselves at the top of La Liga by defeating Mallorca. While their opponents are in the relegation battle and have been at the bottom of the table for months, they did upset Madrid back in October.
It was Madrid’s first defeat of the season but this is a completely different side to the one from eight months ago. They are on the hot streak as they have been the best side in Spain since the return of La Liga. They swept aside Eibar, Valencia, and Real Sociedad to make it three wins out of three.
Eden Hazard is expected to return to the starting XI after being left out of the team for the win over Real Sociedad. There is every chance Karim Benzema may be rested too, but with Luka Jovic out injured, the Frenchman may be called onto the breach once again.
Real Madrid Predicted Team
Courtois; Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo; Kroos, Valverde, Modric; Isco, Benzema, Hazard
There is a lot of excitement around the Japanese winger Takefusa Kubo. The 19-year-old is earning plenty of plaudits for his performances, most notably from Zinedine Zidane. Kubo is on loan at Mallorca from Real Madrid but is eligible to play against his parent club so he will be looking to impress the boss of Los Blancos.
Vicente Moreno's men have suffered two defeats and claimed a draw against fellow strugglers Leganes in their three matches back, and there have been few signs of the reaction needed from the side to pull themselves out of trouble.
Mallorca has failed to score eight times away from home this season, while Real Madrid boasts La Liga's best defensive record, meaning there should be plenty of interest in opposing the visitors to score.
Mallorca Predicted Team
Reina; Pozo, Valjent, Sedlar, Gamez; Baba; Kubo, Rodriguez, Sevilla, Hernandez; Budimir