The Spanish giants were still short of their best, but good value for a narrow victory to continue their undefeated start
Arda Guler and Vinicius Jr scored back-to-back goals within 60 seconds as Real Madrid overcame an early scare to beat Mallorca, 2-1. Los Blancos were dominant throughout, but had a trio of efforts narrowly ruled out.
Madrid thought they had the lead early on when Kylian Mbappe raced through to turn Trent Alexander-Arnold’s pass home, but the referee ruled his effort offside after a long VAR review. Mallorca responded in style, though, when veteran forward Vedat Muriqi headed home off a corner. Los Blancos equalized shortly before half time thanks to another piece of dead ball work. Alvaro Carreras floated a ball to Dean Huijsen at the far post, who nodded across to Guler to finish into an empty net.
Less than a minute later, the home side were in the lead. Vinicius started and finished it with a weaving run, drop of the shoulder and calm finish into the bottom corner. It was almost three before half time, but Mbappe had another goal ruled out for a tight offside. They had another chalked off early in the second half, when the ball was adjudged to have stuck Guler’s arm before he smashed home from close range.
Los Blancos rotated heavily as the minutes waned, with Alonso toying with various combinations. Rodrygo enjoyed a bright cameo. Brahim Diaz made his case on the right. But it was otherwise a simple affair for Madrid, who were good value for the win.
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