(Football news) Mallorca lost a 1-1 draw to Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final last weekend, and Los Blancos enter the game coming off a 3-3 draw with Manchester City in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal match.
Mallorca took on Athletic last Saturday in Seville in an effort to win their second Copa del Rey. With the score tied at one after 120 minutes of play, a penalty shootout was required to decide the winner.
With Javier Aguirre’s team managing just two goals in the shootout, Mallorca was left wondering what may have been while Athletic prevailed with four perfectly executed penalties.
The Pirates will now switch their attention back to La Liga, and they are certainly looking over their shoulder entering the final straight, with a relatively disappointing campaign seeing the team pick up just 31 points from 30 matches, which has left them in 15th position in the table.
Aguirre’s team are only six points ahead of the relegation zone, but they have lost just one of their last five matches in Spain’s top flight, which was a 1-0 reverse at Barcelona on March 8.
Mallorca have picked up four points from their last two league games with Granada and Valencia, and the home side will be bidding to take advantage of the fact that Real Madrid’s full attention will not be on this match.
Real Madrid were involved in a pulsating Champions League quarter-final first leg with Man City on Tuesday evening; Los Blancos trailed 1-0 and 3-2 on home soil but answered back on both occasions to ultimately draw 3-3, and the tie is delicately poised ahead of the return game in Manchester next week.
Naturally, there will be less focus on this match due to the huge contest in England, and Carlo Ancelotti’s side are quite comfortable at the top of the La Liga table, boasting an eight-point advantage over second-placed Barcelona, who will travel to Cadiz on Saturday night.
A defeat for Real Madrid here, though, and a win for Barcelona at Cadiz, would make the gap five points ahead of El Clasico on April 21, so the title race could be blown wide open in the next two matchdays, especially considering Barcelona’s brilliant form at this stage of the season.
After surrendering points away at Valencia in their previous match, Los Blancos have won three straight games in La Liga. This season, they have only lost once in Spain’s top division, a 3-1 setback to Atletico Madrid at the end of September. This season, they have also defeated Celta Vigo, Osasuna, and Athletic Bilbao.
Mallorca has only lost three of their fifteen home league games this season, but Real Madrid has the best away record in La Liga with 34 points from 15 games.
When the two clubs faced off in January at Bernabeu, it was a close game that ended with Ancelotti’s team winning only 1-0. Mallorca also defeated Real Madrid 1-0 in that matchup last season.
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