Without Karim Benzema, Real Madrid lost this Sunday in Mallorca (1-0), including a penalty missed by Marco Asensio. Barça could take the opportunity to fly away.
Bad operation for Real Madrid! The Merengues, reigning Spanish champions, gave in on Sunday on the lawn of Mallorca (1-0), during the 20th day of La Liga.
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Real never managed to recover from the opener, a header from Vedat Muriqi deflected by Nacho Fernandez (1-0, 13th). Injured, Karim Benzema, Eder Militao and Ferland Mendy were not traveling to the Balearic Islands, and Carlo Ancelotti had chosen to leave Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and David Alaba on the bench, to rest some of his executives before the Club World Cup next week. As a bonus, Thibaut Courtois, who felt pain during the warm-up, forfeited just before kick-off.
Real relegated to 8 points
With this revamped team, Real Madrid dominated in sterile fashion: 74% ball possession, 20 shots… and only 1 on target. The shot on target is the penalty obtained by Vinicius Jr, and pitifully hit by Marco Asensio, whose attempt was repelled by Predrag Rajkovic (53rd).
Real Madrid concedes its third defeat of the season in the league, and could be relegated to 8 points from FC Barcelona if the Blaugranas win against Sevilla in the evening. For the moment, the trend is Catalan in the title race.
