August 31, (THEWILL) — Real Madrid maintained their perfect La Liga record under new manager, Xabi Alonso, with a 2-1 victory over Mallorca at the Santiago Bernabéu. The hosts made several key changes to their starting XI, bringing back Trent Alexander-Arnold, Éder Militão and Vinícius Júnior after squad rotation in the previous fixture against Real Oviedo.
The opening exchanges nearly favoured Los Blancos when Alexander-Arnold’s precise pass from deep found Kylian Mbappé, who thought he had opened the scoring in the seventh minute. However, VAR intervention ruled the French striker offside, cancelling what would have been an early breakthrough for the home side.
Mallorca grew into the contest and took a surprising lead through Vedat Muriqi, who converted Pablo Torre’s corner delivery with a well-placed header past Thibaut Courtois. The visitors’ advantage marked the first time this season that Real Madrid had fallen behind in La Liga competition.
The match transformed dramatically within sixty seconds during the first half. Dean Huijsen’s header across goal from Álvaro Carreras’ cross found Arda Güler, who equalised from close range. Almost immediately afterwards, Vinícius Júnior completed the turnaround with individual brilliance, cutting inside onto his left foot before finding the bottom corner for his second goal of the campaign.
Real Madrid thought they had extended their lead through Güler’s second goal in the 55th minute, but another lengthy VAR review disallowed the strike for handball in the build-up. Despite some late pressure from Mallorca, Alonso’s team held on for three points to claim top spot in the La Liga standings ahead of the international break.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
