Posted in: 11/09/2022 – 16:36Last updated: 11/09/2022 – 16:34
Madrid (AFP) – Real Madrid regained the top spot in the Spanish Football League from its arch rival Barcelona, by beating its guest Real Mallorca 4-1 on Sunday in the fifth stage.
The Royal Club overturned its failure with a goal by Mallorca striker Vedat Morichi from Kosovo (35), to win a four-way rotation, scored by Uruguayan midfielder Federico Valverde (45 + 3), who equalized before the end of the first half, and the Brazilians Vinicius Junior (72), Rodrygo (89) and the German Antonio Rudiger (90+3).
And the start of Real is ideal, as it goes with the full mark with 5 victories in a row in the league and 7 out of 7, with calculating the victory of the European Super Cup and the victory over Celtic of Scotland 3-0 on Tuesday at the start of the group stage of the Champions League.
Real rose again to the top with 15 points, two points ahead of Barcelona, who beat Cadiz by four on Saturday at the opening of the competitions for this stage.
For his part, Mallorca’s beginnings were not successful, as after a negative draw against Bilbao for the opening, he lost against Real Betis 0-2, and drew 0-0 against Girona, to achieve his first victory at Rayo Vaiacano 2-0, before falling for the second time and languishing in thirteenth place With 5 points.
The two teams have met 57 times in “La Liga” since 1961, where the victory is clear for the royal club with 37 wins, 10 draws and 10 victories for Mallorca.
Italian Carlo Ancelotti was missing the efforts of its top scorer, French Karim Benzema and Brazilian Eder Militao, with injury, defending the trio of Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Belgian Eden Hazard in the attack line, and keeping the Croatian international star Luka Modric, Frenchman Aurelian Chuamini and Dani Carvajal on the bench.
At the “Santiago Bernabeu” stadium, Mallorca imposed a tie at the end of the first half on its host, despite the latter’s possession of the ball and several unsuccessful shots from a distance. Real Madrid found itself behind in the 35th minute in one of the rare opportunities after a free kick inside the area, followed by Morichi with his head in the net after rising higher than the French defender Ferland Mendy and deposited by the Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Real Madrid equalized with a superb goal from a single effort by midfielder Valverde, who launched the ball from the defense and penetrated from the right side before reaching outside the area and kicked it with his left foot at the top of the Serbian goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic (45 + 4), in his second goal in the league this season. .
After the start of the second half, Ancelotti started his substitutions, most notably Hazard’s exit and Modric’s entry (60), and Lucas Vasques, after a minute, almost scored the goal for Real, but his shot passed centimeters along the left post.
Vasques suffered an injury and left his place for Carvajal (71).
Vinicius succeeded in giving the Royal Club progress after a wonderful individual effort by his compatriot Rodrygo, who overtook more than one player and passed a ball to him on a golden plate that he followed into the goal (72).
It is Vinicius’ fourth goal in the league this season, and the fifth in a row in various competitions.
Rodrygo crowned his efforts with a third goal, after he penetrated into the area, dribbled past two players and hit the right foot through the net (89), in his second goal in “La Liga” this season.
And the newcomer, Rudiger, concluded the Royal Festival with a fourth header after a free kick from his compatriot Toni Kroos, confirmed by the video assistant referee “VAR” after suspicions of an offside case on the German defender (90 + 3).
He later plays Elche with Athletic Bilbao, Getafe with Real Sociedad, and Real Betis with Villarreal.
The stage concludes on Monday with Almeria’s meeting with Osasuna.
© 2022 AFP