Real Madrid will look to continue their strong start to the La Liga season on Wednesday, when they welcome newly-promoted Mallorca to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Having not lost any of their opening five games, Carlo Ancelotti's side sit at the summit of the La Liga table, while their opponents have adjusted well to life back in the top flight, currently occupying eighth spot with eight points.
Match preview
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Following the departure of Zinedine Zidane over the summer, Real Madrid brought Carlo Ancelotti back for his second spell as manager, and the Italian has enjoyed a strong start.
After a 4-1 thrashing of Alaves on the opening day, Los Blancos had to battle for a point against Levante, as a late Vinicius Junior brace off the bench salvaged a 3-3 draw.
The capital side have since strung three straight La Liga victories together, while also defeating Italian champions Inter Milan in the opening game of the Champions League group stage, with Rodrygo netting the only goal in the 89th minute.
They now come into Wednesday's clash on the back of a 2-1 victory over Valencia, as they again benefitted from late drama, having trailed until the 85th minute, only for Vinicius and Karim Benzema to hit late goals and snatch all three points.
Looking to keep hold of top spot, they welcome a Mallorca side who have enjoyed an impressive start of their own.
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Following their promotion from the second tier last term, Mallorca marked their return to the top flight with a commendable draw against Real Betis, before putting their first three-point haul on the board as Fer Nino fired them to a 1-0 away win over Alaves.
Luis Garcia's men then made it back-to-back 1-0 victories, as Dani Rodriguez hit the only goal at home to fellow promoted outfit Espanyol.
Despite then suffering a defeat at the hands of Athletic Bilbao, Los Piratas now head into Wednesday's game on the back of a commendable draw with Villarreal, as they held the Europa League champions to a goalless stalemate.
With the ultimate aim of preserving their top-flight status this season, Mallorca will look to continue putting results on the board early in the campaign, but they face a particularly tough task with a trip to the capital.
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Team News
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Real Madrid have a long injury list to deal with, as Toni Kroos, Gareth Bale, Dani Ceballos and Marcelo are all ruled out, while Ferland Mendy remains a doubt.
In the absence of Marcelo and Mendy, Ancelotti has no senior left-backs, other than David Alaba who has been deployed at the heart of a back four, meaning versatile defender Nacho will continue to deputise on the left-hand side.
The line will be led by Karim Benzema, who has started the season in clinical form, registering six goals and five assists in five La Liga appearances.
He will be supported by winger Vinicius Junior, who has also enjoyed a strong start, hitting five goals and two assists despite only starting three games.
After an impressive result against Villarreal, Mallorca are unlikely to make major changes to the starting XI, with the defensive line of Pablo Maffeo, Martin Valjent, Brian Olivan and Jaume Costa set to remain untouched.
Takefusa Kubo will continue to support striker Fer Nino, while former Valencia star Lee Kang-In remains in search of a starting spot.
Antonio Sanchez is expected to be the only certain absentee, while Antonio Raillo, Franco Russo and Aleksander Sedlar remain doubts.
Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Courtois; Carvajal, Alaba, Militao, Nacho; Valverde, Casemiro, Modric; Vinicius, Benzema, Hazard
Mallorca possible starting lineup:
Reina; Maffeo, Valjent, Olivan, Costa; Kubo, Sevilla, Baba, Lee; Nino, Rodriguez
We say: Real Madrid 3-1 Mallorca
While Los Blancos are not always entirely convincing at the back, the form of Vinicius Junior and Benzema has led to impressive success at the top end of the pitch this season, and we see them overpowering the visitors on Wednesday.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Real Madrid win with a probability of 66.95%. A draw had a probability of 20.4% and a win for Mallorca had a probability of 12.66%.
The most likely scoreline for a Real Madrid win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.41%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (13.22%) and 2-1 (9.47%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.61%), while for a Mallorca win it was 0-1 (4.88%). The actual scoreline of 6-1 was predicted with a 0.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Real Madrid would win this match.
