Real Madrid vs Mallorca: La Liga – teams, start, kickoff, lineups

Who: Mallorca vs. Real Madrid
What: Spanish La Liga
Where: Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, Spain
When: Saturday, August 30 at 9:30pm (19:30 GMT)

Follow-up time: From 6:30 pm (16:30 GMT) until our live text commentary stream, we’ll have all the preparation.

Real Madrid and four other teams now share the top spot in La Liga, setting up Saturday’s clash with struggling Mallorca, who are 16th in the division with one point from two games.

Real’s Xabi Alonso is in charge of Santiago Bernabeu for the first time, so the former Los Blancos midfielder has a lot of attention on him, especially in light of the team’s limp FIFA Club World Cup defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

Al Jazeera Sport examines a matchup between struggling Mallorca and Alonso’s Real Madrid in a more in-depth look at the game.

What La Liga results has Real Madrid produced this year?

The record-setting La Liga champions defeated Osasuna 1-0 to start the new domestic Spanish campaign on a high note with a penalty from Kylian Mbappe. In their second game, Real Oviedo defeated the Madrid-based club 3-0 to claim a 3-0 victory.

Kylian Mbappe scored Real Madrid’s opening goal in the La Liga match between Real Oviedo and [Miguel Oses/AP]

What form has Mallorca played in La Liga this year?

With only two games to go before Mallorca meet Barcelona in their season opener, the trip to Madrid has been a difficult one.

With a 3-0 victory, the Catalan club won. In a 1-1 home draw with Celta Vigo, Mateu Morey’s equalizer in the 87th minute saved the islanders from consecutive defeats.

Vinicius Junior: Will he make a Real Madrid debut?

Despite the FIFA world player of the year’s heroics off the bench, Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso resisted making the decision to omit Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior from his starting lineup and reaffirm that every player must fight for their place.

Vinicius made a comeback from injury last Sunday, helping Real Madrid beat Oviedo 3-0, adding an assist for Mbappe’s second goal before scoring himself.

Alonso remained unconcerned when asked about the potential impact of benching such a prominent player.

The key is for everyone to contribute, whether on or off the pitch, he said at a news conference on Friday. It’s essential to truly believe in this. Everyone does, too, here.

The Brazilian’s response received praise from the Real Madrid boss. Vini is very happy with me. He demonstrated that coming off the bench, he could have a significant impact. He will be crucial as we only just begin, and we need him.

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, center, is congratulated by teammates Vinicius Junior, right, and Aurelien Tchouameni after scoring — After scoring Real Madrid’s second goal in the Spanish La Liga match against Real Oviedo, Kylian Mbappe, center, is congratulated by teammates Vinicius Junior, center, and Aurelien Tchouameni.

Is Rodrigo available for Real Madrid transfer?

Rodrygo started for his first start since their Club World Cup clash against Al Hilal in June, and Alonso has also backed him.

Since Alonso arrived, the Brazilian forward has been heavily linked with leaving the Spanish giants, but he appears to be integrating nicely into the plans of the new coach.

He has performed in various capacities at his best. He has played 9 and even 10 as well. But I believe he should play a very good left-wing position, Alonso said.

Rodrygo will start ahead of Vinicius this weekend, the Spaniard did not, however, say when.

He laughed and said, “It wouldn’t be very smart of me to tell you what I’m going to do, put him on the left or start again.” “We’ll see”.

Head-to-head

Real Madrid and Mallorca have won 29 of their 50 meetings while Mallorca have won 13 of the ones they have faced.

Los Blancos have lost four of their previous five games against Mallorca.

Their most recent victory at Santiago Bernabeu came in May 2009, when the home team went on a five-game losing streak to bring the La Liga season to a close with champions Barcelona.