La Liga: Late Muriqi goal hands Mallorca victory over Real Madrid

Real Madrid suffered a major blow to their La Liga title hopes as Vedat Muriqi’s late winner for Mallorca kept Alvaro Arbeloa’s side four points behind Barcelona.

Hosts Mallorca went ahead four minutes before half-time when Manu Morlanes met a cross from the right delivered by Pablo Maffeo, took a touch to compose himself, and slotted into the bottom right corner.

Real thought they had salvaged a point in the 88th minute when Eder Militao heading in superbly from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner.

However, Muriqi had other ideas and struck his 19th league goal of the season in the first minute of stoppage time to give the hosts a superb win.

The result means Real failed to narrow the gap to Barcelona at the top, while Mallorca moved two points clear of the relegation zone.

Real could fall further behind in the title race when Barcelona face Atletico Madrid later on Saturday (20:00 BST).

Arbeloa’s visitors had several chances before Mallorca took the lead, but home goalkeeper Leo Roman was in fine form.

Kylian Mbappe raced past two Mallorca defenders and swung a shot towards goal but Roman’s outstretched leg denied him.

The France captain was thwarted once more when Roman pushed his curled effort behind when it was headed into the far corner.

Arda Guler’s low driven shot was well saved by Roman as Los Blancos continued to be frustrated.

At the other end, Morlanes headed over from six yards but made up for his miss by putting Mallorca ahead.

The late drama left the visitors dejected, with a first defeat by Mallorca since February 2023 putting a major dent in Real’s chances of La Liga glory.

Real will hope to return to winning ways when they host Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday (20:00 BST).

(BBC)