Marco Asensio missed a penalty kick as Real Madrid beat Mallorca 1-0 in the Spanish league on Sunday in their last match before traveling to Morocco to play in the Club World Cup.
The draw gives Barcelona the chance to extend their lead at the top when they host struggling Sevilla on Sunday. The Catalan club will enter the match at the Camp Nou with a five-point lead over second-place Madrid.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said, ‘We had already expected a very tough match. We had chances but we didn’t take advantage of them.”
Ancelotti could not rely on a number of injured starters, including striker Karim Benzema, defender Eder Militao and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who was pulled from the squad at the last minute after injuring himself during warm-up. Ancelotti also rested midfielders Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, who came on in the second half.
Asensio squandered an equalizer when Mallorca goalkeeper Pedrag Rajkovic saved a penalty kick in the 60th minute after fouling Madrid forward Vinicius Junior. Madrid’s last chance was a header by Antonio Rüdiger that went deep into stoppage time.
The hosts got on the board with a goal by Nacho Fernandez, who was replacing Militão in defence. Nacho went for a high cross and deflected the ball into his own net over goalkeeper Andrey Lunin, who started in place of Courtois.
“I hit the ball with my head and unfortunately it went into the top corner,” said Nacho. “It was a complicated match against a team that was having a good season. It is a pity that we gave up three points.”
Madrid was coming off a win against Valencia after being held by Real Sociedad. Their opponent in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup on Wednesday will be Egyptian club Al Ahly.
It was the second win in three league matches for Mallorca, and fourth straight at home. It remained midtable with 28 points from 20 matches.
“It’s a good result, takes us further away from the relegation zone,” said Javier Aguirre, Mallorca’s Mexican coach. “But there are still many matches left, we cannot relax.”
Vinicius was shown a yellow card and will be suspended for Madrid’s next league game against last place Elche.
In other league games on Sunday, third-place Real Sociedad hosts Valladolid and relegation-threatened Valencia visits Girona. Sociedad can move within three points of Madrid with a win.