In the absence in particular of Karim Benzema (injured in the back of the right knee) and Thibaut Courtois (hit in the adductors during warm-up), Real folded in the 13th minute with an own goal from Nacho Fernandez, who deflected a cross into his own cages with his head, and failed to respond in the 59th on a penalty from Marco Asensio pushed back by Predrag Rajkovic.

A defeat that comes at the worst of times for the Merengues: Carlo Ancelotti's men, already left behind in La Liga, play again in three days against Al-Ahly as part of the Club World Cup, and continue to sink into their bad luck at the start of 2023, three weeks before the decisive knockout stages of the Champions League against Liverpool.

"We played well in the last match (2-0 against Valencia, editor's note) and in the draw against Real Sociedad. Since the Spanish Super Cup, the team is better. The feelings are good. We had injuries which were not predictable, but overall the team is doing much better," Ancelotti said at a press conference on Saturday.

Majorca, capital success

Between the fouls galore and the uncontained frustration of Vinicius, nothing worked for the people of Madrid.

The Italian technician did try to upset his tactical plan in the 70th minute, bringing out Asensio, Dani Ceballos and Aurélien Tchouaméni to bring in Mariano Diaz, David Alaba and Toni Kroos... but nothing worked.

Mariano almost brought Real back to equality in the 87th minute, but his acrobatic volley did not find the target.

And in addition to this widening distance between the leader and his runner-up, Real are starting to worry about his infirmary: just before kick-off, incumbent goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was injured in the warm-up, and it is therefore his lining Andreiy Lunin who kept the Madrid cages on Sunday in Palma de Mallorca.

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, injured warming up before the match in Mallorca, February 5, 2023 © JAIME REINA / AFP

With this capital success, Clément Grenier and the Majorcans have a fourth victory in a row at home, and are back in 10th place in the standings, just three points from the qualifying places for European competitions.

The "White House" suffered its third setback of the season in La Liga there, after that in Villarreal on January 7 (2-1) and that on the lawn of its neighbor, Rayo Vallecano (3-2) on November 7.

For eight days, Real has won only four matches.

Barça has lost only one game this season in the league.

But Real must also look in its rear-view mirror: if successful this afternoon (6:30 p.m.) at home against Valladolid, Real Sociedad will come back to just one victory (three small points) from Real Madrid in the standings.

© 2023 AFP