Thibaut Courtois made an incredible save to keep Real Madrid at 0-0.
Real Madrid are underway against Mallorca in the last match of the day as they look to regain the top spot in La Liga. The head-to-head race against Barcelona has proven to be quite the challenge with all of Madrid’s opponents putting up a respectable fight.
Mallorca isn’t going down easy and putting Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois under pressure when they can. After a neat attacking effort led by Los Blanco’s loanee Takefusa Kubo, the ball trickled out of the box and into open space after being spanked by Iddrisu Baba from distance.
It seemed unlikely a goal could come from such a distance but Baba slapped a Tesla motor onto the ball as it flung toward the goal of Madrid. The Belgian keeper didn’t lose focus as he dove into next week parrying the ball out for a corner.
Yet again Courtois makes his job look so much easier than it is as he throws his 6’6 frame around to keep his team in contention of the La Liga title.
Mallorca go close ❗️
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) June 24, 2020
Iddrisu Baba shoots brilliantly from distance and Courtois has to get a fingertip on the ball to keep it out 👀#RealMadridRCDMallorca pic.twitter.com/n66yizbzNs
The formation and fluidity of the team look about off with Casemiro out of today’s match, as he is suspended due to his accumulation of yellow cards. Zinedine Zidane has elected to place Federico Valverde back into the midfield alongside Luka Modric. Ahead of them sit Vincius Jr who has scored the lone goal of the match, Gareth Bale, Eden Hazard and the fiery Karim Benzema.
Bale’s return is nothing short of surprising but with pace on both wings Madrid has caused plenty of trouble for Mallorca, Zidane’s tactics clearly working. Mallorca handed Madrid their first loss of the season so they won’t want to let up just yet.
Madrid will need to score a couple more goals in the second half to seal the three points and stay ahead of Barcelona in the chase of the 34th La Liga title.