Mallorca 2-1 Real Madrid: Muriqi dents visitors' title hope with dramatic winner

Real Madrid's hopes of winning LaLiga took a massive blow as Vedat Muriqi fired in a stoppage-time winner to condemn them to a shock 2-1 defeat to Mallorca.

Match Report

Manu Morlanes swept into the bottom-right corner to put Mallorca ahead late in the first half, after Kylian Mbappe passed up a couple of big chances to put Madrid in front.

Alvaro Arbeloa introduced Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham from the bench as Madrid grew desperate in the second half, and they got level via Eder Militao's 88th-minute header.

Los Blancos looked the more likely victors at that moment, but they were dealt a hammer blow when Muriqi lashed home in the first of five additional minutes, and Barcelona could now go seven points clear at the summit when they face Atletico Madrid later on Saturday.

There was a suspicion of offside as Mbappe burst onto Alvaro Carreras' pass for Madrid's first major opportunity, but regardless, he was unable to beat Leo Roman when one-v-one.

A near-identical move resulted in Roman turning Mbappe's curler past his left post in the 25th minute, while Morlanes was guilty of a glaring miss at the other end, misjudging his jump and heading over from close range when totally unmarked.

But Mallorca's number eight atoned in the 41st minute, as he brilliantly took Pablo Maffeo's delivery in his stride before wrong-footing Andrii Lunin with a composed finish.

Roman's duel with Mbappe continued after half-time as the Mallorca goalkeeper made a good save with his feet, but he was finally beaten by Militao, who diverted Trent Alexander-Arnold's set-piece delivery into the top-right corner.

However, there was one final twist to come as substitute Mateo Joseph picked out Muriqi to his right, and the Kosovo international fired a terrific finish across Lunin.

Data Debrief: Muriqi's stellar season continues

Saturday's game featured the two most prolific players in LaLiga this season, and it was Muriqi, rather than Mbappe, that came out on top.

His late winner was his 19th goal in LaLiga this season, with only Mbappe (23) above him in the Golden Boot race. That is the most goals scored by a Mallorca player in a single top-flight campaign since Dani Guiza netted 27 times in 2017-18.

And it meant Martin Demichelis – who represented Real Madrid's rivals Atletico as a player – became only the third Mallorca head coach to win his first two home games in charge this century, after Sergio Kresic in 2001 and Javier Aguirre in 2022.

Madrid fired off 15 shots to Mallorca's six, though they only narrowly edged the expected goals (xG) battle by 1.27 to 1.22, with both teams creating two big chances apiece. 

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

10' Highlight from RCD Mallorca vs Real Madrid

16' Mami’s header is saved

22' Tchouameni’s header goes over

25' Mbappe is denied

33' Arda is denied

34' Great defending from Rüdiger to deny Muriqi

42' GOAL! RCD Mallorca 1-0 Real Madrid (Manu Morlanes)

47' Yellow Card! Dean Huijsen booked

50' Kylian Mbappé is called out of bounds

55' Kylian Mbappé has been denied again by Leo Roman

60' Militão, Bellingham and Vinicius are replacing Angel, Camavinga and Dean Huijsen

71' Thiago Pitarch is on for Arda Güler

78' Tchouameni's shot wide out

88' GOAL! RCD Mallorca 1-1 Real Madrid (Éder Militão)

91' GOAL! RCD Mallorca 2-1 Real Madrid (Vedat Muriqi)

Line-ups

RCD Mallorca XI: Mojica, Darder, Mascarell, Vedat Muriqi, P. Maffeo, Martin Valjent, Manu Morlanes, Leo Román, Samú Costa, Zito Luvumbo, Pablo Torre

Subs: Cuellar, Abdón Prats, Asano, T.Lato, Morey, Kumbulla, Antonio Sánchez, Javi Llabrés, David López, Mateo Joseph, Justin Kalumba, Jan Virgili

Real Madrid XI: Rudiger, Alexander-Arnold, Mbappe, Brahim, Lunin, Tchouameni, Camavinga, Manuel Ángel, Güler, Álvaro Carreras, Dean Huijsen

Subs: Alaba, Carvajal, Militao, Fran García, Vinicius, Bellingham, Gonzalo García, Raúl Asencio, César Palacios, Fran González, Franco Mastantuono, Thiago Pitarch