With a six point cushion in the league, Real Madrid will travel to Palma to take on Mallorca on Saturday night. The Barralets come into the match in fine form with only one loss in their last 12 league matches. Los Blancos will have revenge on their mind as Mallorca knocked them out of the King’s Cup back in January.Historic Result
Mallorca recorded their first ever win at the Mestalla last weekend as they drubbed a disinterested Valencia side. They were led by striker Daniel Guiza who bagged a brace which sandwiched a brilliant free kick goal by central defender Ivan Ramis.
Guiza’s recent form has been very impressive as he has netted six times in Mallorca’s last five matches which has brought his league total to 17. The 27 year old Spanish international seems determined to make it impossible for Luis Aragones to overlook him for Spain’s squad for Euro 2008. If he continues to perform at this high level, the speculation will only grow that he will be moving to a bigger club in Spain, England or Italy this coming summer.
With three wins in their last four matches, Mallorca has assumed their customary mid-table spot where they sit comfortably seven points above the drop and only five points from a spot in Europe. While they lost a 4-3 thriller to Madrid at the Bernabeu in the league earlier this year, Mallorca should feel confident going into this match after knocking Los Blancos out of the King’s Cup back in January.
A Quiet Week
After a rousing victory over Sevilla last Sunday, Madrid enjoyed a very quiet week with none of the constant speculation over Bernd Schuster’s future at the club which has dominated the headlines in previous weeks. In fact, Schuster let his guard down in front of the press as he talked about this coming summer’s transfer activity for the club as well as his desire to improve his relationship with the press.
Madrid’s biggest challenge will be to maintain their focus as after last week’s results, archrival Barcelona are no longer their primary pursuers as Villarreal have leapfrogged the Blaugrana in the table. With only eight matches remaining, Los Merengues would like to pick up another three points on Saturday which will put an enormous amount of pressure on Villarreal and Barcelona going into their matches on Sunday.
FORM GUIDE
RCD Mallorca
Valencia - Mallorca 0 - 3 30/03/2008 LA LIGA
Mallorca - Deportivo 1 - 0 22/03/2008 LA LIGA
Espanyol - Mallorca 2 - 1 16/03/2008 LA LIGA
Mallorca - Recreativo 7 - 1 09/03/2008 LA LIGA
Getafe - Mallorca 3 - 3 02/03/2008 LA LIGA
Mallorca - Betis 1 - 1 24/02/2008 LA LIGA
Real Madrid
Real Madrid - Sevilla 3 - 1 30/03/2008 LA LIGA
Real Madrid - Valencia 2 - 3 23/03/2008 LA LIGA
Deportivo - Real Madrid 1 - 0 15/03/2008 LA LIGA
Real Madrid - Espanyol 2 - 1 08/03/2008 LA LIGA
Real Madrid - Roma 1 - 2 05/03/2008 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Recreativo - Real Madrid 2 - 3 01/03/2008 LA LIGA
TEAM NEWS
Mallorca
No major injuries or suspensions to report as defender Sergio Ballesteros returns from a two match ban. Mallorca coach, Gregorio Manzano, is expected to name an unchanged side from last week’s win over Valencia.
Possible Starting XI (4-4-2): Moya – Navarro, Nunes, Ramis, Hector – Jonas, Basinas, Ibagaza, Varela – Guiza, Arango
Madrid
Pepe is expected to return from a knock that he had received on the last international break. Other than Metzelder and van Nistleroy who are both still unavailable due to injury, Schuster should have a full squad to choose from. Given Madrid’s recent inability to score goals in away matches, I expect him to drop Marcelo at left back and go with the more defensive option in Heinze.
Possible Starting XI (4-3-3): Casillas - Heinze, Cannavaro, Pepe, Ramos – Guti, Gago, Sneijder - Robben, Raul, Higuain.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Mallorca
Arango – It’s not a surprise that Mallorca’s recent run of good form has coincided with Juan Arango rediscovering his scoring touch. The Venezuelan international has scored five goals over his last five matches. While he is listed as a striker, he will drop into midfield and serve as an effective playmaker. Madrid’s defense will have to pay careful attention to him at all times.
Madrid
Raul – In what has been a very inconsistent year for Madrid, the one constant has been the high level of performance from their captain. Raul has been in very good form with six goals in his last six matches for Madrid. Stopping him will be the highest priority for Mallorca.
PREDICTION
While Madrid’s form has been very difficult to predict lately, they have won four of their last five league matches at Ono Estadi. With a chance to really put the pressure on the other title chasers, I would expect Los Blancos to collect all three points here.
Mallorca 1 – Real Madrid 2
