By Graham Ruthven
Real momentum
After an uncertain start to the season, Real Madrid are building momentum having won five of their last six matches in all competitions with last week’s victory over Valencia a classic comeback by Los Blancos.
Jude Bellingham’s stoppage time winner at Mestalla continued his scoring run of six goals in seven games and came with Real Madrid down to 10 men after the sending off of Vinícius Júnior. The Spanish champions backed this up with a 5-0 Copa del Rey win over Minera on Monday.
Three games in under a week could make fatigue a factor for Madrid against Mallorca, but the talent advantage will be in the favour of the Spanish champions.
Mallorca enter the Spanish Super Cup after making last season’s Copa del Rey final. More recently, though, Jagoba Arrasate’s team suffered an embarrassing cup exit at the hands of fourth tier Pontevedra as the defending Copa champions.
The Balearic Islands outfit will have to rediscover the magic of last season’s Copa del Rey run to stand any chance against Ancelotti‘s side in Riyadh.
Key players
Bellingham has been pushed forward into a more advanced role in recent weeks which has seen the England international score a number of important goals, including the late winner at Valencia.
Kylian Mbappé will lead the line for Real Madrid with Vinícius available despite being sent off on Monday night. The suspension only applies to LaLiga and so the Brazilian will likely line up on the left wing.
However, there are still questions over Ancelotti’s integration of Mbappé and Vinícius into the same forward line with Real Madrid recently playing better without the latter.
After naming a much-changed team for that Copa upset, the likes of Pablo Maffeo, Vedat Muriqi, Cyle Larin, Dominik Greif and Sergi Darder could come back into the lineup for Thursday’s match.
-Muriqi scored against Real Madrid in the opening game of the season and will pose a physical and aerial threat with Mallorca’s game plan designed to get service into the 30-year-old centre forward.
Goalkeeper Greif should expect a busy evening against one of the most formidable frontlines in European football.
Team news
Madrid remain without Dani Carvajal who is expected to miss the rest of the season through injury, explaining why Los Blancos are reportedly keen to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold to fill the vacant right back spot.
Éder Militão and Jesús Vallejo will also miss Thursday’s match against Mallorca, although David Alaba is now back in training after a year on the sidelines. This game, however, will come too soon for the Austrian.
Defensive midfielder Samu Costa is the only Mallorca player expected to miss the Spanish Super Cup semi-final with Arrasate otherwise boasting a fully fit squad despite knocks to Antonio Raíllo and Antonio Sánchez.
Prediction
As one of the most successful clubs in world football, Madrid don’t often miss out on the opportunity to collect more silverware. We’re therefore predicting that they will make it safely through to Sunday’s final: Real Madrid 2-0 Mallorca
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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