Palma/Madrid, Feb 4 (EFE).- Real Madrid, who finished playing at 11:00 p.m. on Thursday against Valencia, will do so again this Sunday at Son Moix at 2:00 p.m. not seeing Barcelona escape, against a Mallorca that is the second least thrashed team at home.
In the spotlight, the reunion of Antonio Raillo with Vinícius. They exchanged more than words in the last precedent, a Madrid rout at the Santiago Bernabéu (4-1) that provoked the anger of the Mallorcan captain because of the dances after ‘Vini’s’ goal.
“They are football things. If I have to set an example for my children tomorrow, I will give them Modric or Benzema, but never him”, Raillo assured hours after the reunion. The center-back is much loved by the Majorcan fans due to his commitment to the club that he helped in consecutive promotions from Second B to First Division. Not so much at Real Madrid, who, in addition to the discussion with ‘Vini’, remembers a very tough challenge from him to Rodrygo.
One way or another, the focus is always on Vinícius, who was reunited with the goal against Valencia before suffering a chilling challenge from his compatriot Gabriel Paulista. In his long list of discussions appear the Mexican coach Javier Aguirre and the winger Pablo Maffeo. For this reason, Carlo Ancelotti will ask for maximum attention to the game. His team needs him in the face of casualties, especially with a new absence of Karim Benzema.
Mallorca did not want to add fuel to the fire and its board called for sanity and asked the fans to “enjoy” the visit of a European champion. And Aguirre has also asked for calm, remembering that the only important thing is to add the three points at stake, with which his team would take a firm step towards permanence.
For Real Madrid it will be their last game before the Club World Cup, a moment that Barcelona will be able to take advantage of to widen an already important advantage of five points and with the classic to play at the Camp Nou. He responded well to the pressure and the obligation to win against a Valencia in crisis and must continue at Son Moix, with the losses of Militao, Ferland Mendy and Lucas Vázquez in defense plus that of Eden Hazard, again absent, and Benzema in attack.
The return of David Alaba, recovered from the injury to the right soleus that has only allowed him to play one game in 2023, will allow Ancelotti to breathe a bit. If Nacho Fernández remains at center-back, Alaba will be the bet on the left side, where Eduardo Camavinga has shone since Mendy’s injury. On the right everything points to the return to ownership of Dani Carvajal after his reappearance last Thursday.
In the same way as in the midfielder with the French Aurélien Tchouaméni. Ahead he has decisions to make Ancelotti, who has surrendered to the full moment of Dani Ceballos and could sit down Luka Modric again. He will enter Fede Valverde in the trident with the passage of Rodrygo to the zone of 9 to try to make up for the absence of Benzema.
Mexican Javier Aguirre’s Real Mallorca clings to Son Moix, where they have won their last three games in a row against Atlético de Madrid, Valladolid and Celta. All by the minimum (1-0), a circumstance that is endorsing, for now, its status as the team that produces the most profitability from its goals, 15 in 19 games.
The ‘Vasco’ only has the confirmed loss of central defender José Copete and could give minutes to one of the three reinforcements that have arrived in the winter transfer window: the Swedish defenders Dennis Hadzikadunic (with a Bosnian passport) and Ludwig Augustinsson, and the Spanish midfielder Manu Morlanes, on loan from Rostov, Sevilla and Villarreal, respectively.
No changes are foreseen in the Mallorcan eleven and the only novelty will be the return to the axis of the rear of the Serbian Matija Nastasic, as confirmed by Aguirre. Up front, Muriqi is the most powerful argument of the Balearic team. He has 8 goals, more than half of those the team has scored in 19 games, but he hasn’t celebrated any for five games.
. Probable lineups:
Mallorca: Rajkovic; Maffeo, Raillo, Valjent, Nastasic, Costa; Baba, Ruiz de Galarreta, Dani Rodriguez; Kang In Lee; and Muriqi.
Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Nacho, Rudiger, Alaba; Tchouaméni or Camavinga, Kroos, Ceballos; Fede Valverde, Vinícius and Rodrygo.
Referee: Alejandro Hernández Hernández (Canary Islands Committee)
VAR: De Burgos Bengoechea (Basque Committee).
Stadium: Son Moix.
Time: 2:00 p.m. CET (1:00 p.m. GMT).