Atlético leaves Borussia Dortmund alive

Three points to rebuild morale before undertaking the assault on the Etihad in Manchester. Real Madrid, solid leader of the League, got the three points (1-0) this Saturday in their visit to the tough Mallorca of “Vasco” Aguirre on the 31st round of the Spanish championship.

The “merengue” team used a goal from French midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni (48) to achieve a victory that leaves Carlo Ancelotti’s men with eleven points more than their immediate pursuer, FC Barcelona.

The veteran Italian coach chose to make rotations against a vermilion team that has not yet secured permanence and is still stunned by the painful defeat on penalties a week ago in the Copa del Rey final against Athletic Club.

At the time of the opening whistle, Carvajal, Kroos, Camavinga, Rodrygo and Vinicius, five starters in the first leg of the Champions League at the Santiago Bernabéu against Manchester City (3-3), were sitting on the bench.

Which did not prevent the Madrid team from dominating the game, under the leadership of Luka Modric, although in a sterile way. Mallorca itself was the first to worry the Ukrainian goalkeeper Lunin, who saved a header from Antonio Raíllo on the line. But shortly after, Englishman Jude Bellingham shook the crossbar with his shot from outside the area (33rd).

It was finally Tchouaméni who opened the scoring shortly after the restart. The former Monaco player’s shot hit a Mallorca player, diverting his trajectory just enough so that the local goalkeeper, Serbian Predrag Rajkovic, could only watch with his eyes as the ball slipped into his nets (47).

Real Madrid would waste more chances (Valverde, Vinicius) and that almost cost them two points if it weren’t for Lunin’s excellent save from Darder’s shot in the final moments.

A narrow victory like the one achieved on the Mediterranean island would allow the “merengue” team to qualify for the Champions League semi-finals on their complicated visit to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium next Wednesday.

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