Saturday saw Zinedine Zidane's hope of winning the Spanish La liga hit a hard surface, as he found himself toppled by a relegation threatened Mallorca side. While it was a blissful weekend for most Barcelona fans, the same can't be said of Real Madrid supporters as they watched their side succumb to their first league defeat of the season after 9 games so far. Not only did they lost and surrender their place at the top to Barcelona their rival, the defeat came from a team that has not recorded a win over the former European Champions since 2009. It's really funny how Madrid continues to shatter their own record and you wonder if Zidene has made the greatest mistake of his life by returning to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Real Madrid had seen a glimpse of hope of becoming a possible contender for the league this season after playing second fiddle to Barcelona for some time now, but it seems they will have to go back to the drawing boards and fix their cracks if they truly wanna bounce back to sustain the pressure on Barcelona. The Catalan giants appear to be getting back their rhythm especially with the return of Lionel Messi to fitness. Ernesto Valverde's side recorded a 3-0 win over Eibar on Saturday to reclaim the top spot from Madrid after Nine games. It was Barca's sixth win this season and it was enough to take them to the top of the league despite having drawn one match and lost two so far this season. That win left them with 19 points, just a point ahead of Zidane's Real.
Zidane's resolve to get a possible replacement for the departed Ronaldo must have been strengthened by the defeat to Mallorca, as the lack of striking instinct from Vinicius and the inability of Benzema to fire them through on Saturday's league encounter continues to raise concerns. With Eden Hazard, Modric and Gareth Bale not available for the trip to Mallorca, the handwriting was on the wall that the former European Champions would find it herculean to secure a win. This isn't the Madrid we knew two years ago, the fall is just too drastic and it all points to the fact that Christiano Ronaldo was their talisman and allowing the Portuguese Superstar to depart to Turin was a grave mistake from Perez's administration. So far so good, Madrid has recorded 5 wins, 3 draws and their first loss of the season to Mallorca, not a team many of us would have predicted.
I'm pretty sure Mallorca will be reeling in pride after their Saturday victory over Zidane's side, as it was big nudge from the relegation zone. It was their second consecutive victory of the season and recording it against a side like Madrid adds so much to it. All they needed was an early goal to cap their day, thanks to the striking brilliance of Lago. Despite Karem Benzema strucking the woodwork, Madrid were unable to dismantle their host's defense, and this is where Eden Hazard's driving force would come to play. Zidane's hope of salvaging a point from Saturday's game got dashed even more when Odriozola got sent off towards the ending part of the game. If there is anything the French Boss will be happy about now, it will be the postponement of the El Clasico, because it would have meant Madrid suffering two defeats in such a short while.
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