Real Madrid

Real Madrid travel to Mallorca hoping to cut the gap to LaLiga leaders Barcelona to two points. Kick-off at 8am ET.

You get the feeling this is another must-win game for Madrid and when they must win, they tend to find a way. I can confirm that it's not always the case but it looks to be a beautiful winter's day for a game of soccer in Mallorca! If you’re watching from the United States, there is a way and this is it! And it looks as if he'll be forced to sit out the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup (more on that coming up). The Brazilian looks to be the worst affected after being substituted with a thigh problem after only half-an-hour of that game. The Austrian missed a total of seven matches due to a calf injury, including the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, but now is back in business. Eden Hazard has admitted himself that he's not the player he used to be, which is a real shame, as he was superb to watch at his peak. It's fair to say that they've had their ups and downs this season; they took just one point from four matches at the start of October and then followed that up with a five wins in six games (which included two Copa del Rey ties against lower-league opposition). Now, they appear to have battled their way back into form, with a come-from-behind Copa del Rey win against Villarreal the catalyst for a run of four wins and a draw in five matches. This one doesn't give much away but interesting to see that in the modern millionaires'/billionaires' world of soccer, there are still some top clubs that have wooden benches like the ones I got changed beside when I was at the peak of my (rather unimpressive) career. With so many games on the horizon, that could be a nightmare for Carlo Ancelotti and Real Madrid. On Thursday, Carlo Ancelotti's men played the first of a possible 10 matches in 32 days, which will include LaLiga (obviously), a minimum of one and a maximum of two games at the FIFA Club World Cup, which they'll be leaving for after the game in Palma, and the Champions League, which starts back up again on 21 February (against Liverpool).

Sunday's La Liga action begins at the Estadi Son Moix, where mid-table Mallorca will entertain reigning champions Real Madrid.

With Barcelona five points ahead at this stage, Real Madrid doesn't have much room for mistakes if they want to defend their La Liga crown this season. But, with half the campaign still to go, there are still many twists and turns left in this title race.Mallorca, meanwhile, suffered a very disappointing 2-0 at the hands relegation-zoned Cadiz in their last fixture. Real Madrid will make the trip to the Balearic Islands to lock horns with RCD Mallorca, looking to win back-to-back games in La Liga.

Thibaut Courtois has been forced out of Real Madrid's game at Mallorca after sustaining an injury during the warm-up. The 30-year-old goalkeeper was set to ...

[Mallorca](https://theathletic.com/football/team/mallorca/): Lunin; Carvajal, [Nacho](https://theathletic.com/football/player/nacho-CrpeNMuE0s6cMrf0/), Rudiger, Camavinga; Valverde, Tchouameni, Ceballos; Asensio, [Rodrygo](https://theathletic.com/football/player/rodrygo-JS0gfsSSMTJWAReh/), [Vinicius Junior](https://theathletic.com/football/player/vinicius-junior-RYkvBJoMUnRgM6AO/) [La Liga](https://theathletic.com/football/la-liga/), take on [Egypt](https://theathletic.com/football/team/egypt/)’s Al Ahly on Wednesday in the semi-final stage of the Club World Cup. [Thibaut Courtois](https://theathletic.com/football/player/thibaut-courtois-Z8iFLfga2ePKQHj3/) has been forced out of [Real Madrid](https://theathletic.com/football/team/real-madrid/)’s game at Mallorca after sustaining an injury during the warm-up.

Ukrainian stopper Andriy Lunin replaced the Belgium international in the starting line up in the La Liga clash, minutes before kick-off.

Madrid started the game against Mallorca five points behind La Liga leader Barcelona. Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois appeared to suffer a thigh injury while warming up before his team’s La Liga clash with Real Mallorca on Sunday, adding to their injury woes. Defender David Alaba returned to the bench against Mallorca after missing eight games with a calf problem.

(Reuters) - Champions Real Madrid suffered a shock 1-0 loss at Mallorca in LaLiga on Sunday thanks to a bizarre own goal by defender Nacho early in the ...

A pity, because we are missing three points." This is football," Nacho told Movistar Plus. Nacho left his team mates stunned as he tried to clear a cross in the 13th minute and headed the ball high over his own goalkeeper and into the net.

PETE JENSON: The defeat hits their chances of catching leaders Barcelona but there was bad news beyond the result with Thibaut Courtois missing the game ...

There was more bad feeling as Mallorca played the clock down with Ancelotti having words with Maffeo after he had clashed once more with Vinicius. He hasn't scored since then either and that record stayed in tact as Madrid failed to penetrate a team that had won their previous three home games 1-0. With no Benzema it was Mallorca born Marco Asensio who stepped up but Rajkovic dived the right way and saved the spot kick. He advanced down the left and when the ball was lost and then came back to him he tried to pick out Muriqi who had by now arrived in the penalty area. Things were desperate now and it was time for Luka Modric to try to put things right with Ancelotti turning to his bench. But Madrid had given as good as they had got with strong challenges on Pablo Maffeo from both Eduardo Camavinga and Aureliano Tchouameni.