Real Madrid seals a full house against Mallorca and is provisional leader
The white team defeated its rival thanks to Arda Guler's goal and a great goal by Vinicius.
Real Madrid defeated Mallorca at the Santiago Bernabéu.
(AFP) Real Madrid sealed a full house of victories after beating Mallorca (18th) 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday, in a match corresponding to the third round of La Liga, placing them as provisional solo leaders.
Kosovar striker Vedat Muriqi (18) gave the Balearic side the lead, but a quick-fire comeback by Turkey's Arda Güler (37) and Brazil's Vinicius (38), gave Los Merengues the win.
Xabi Alonso's team goes into the national team break with a possible nine points from the first three games.
Mallorca, in a great first half-hour of the game, managed to take the lead through Muriqi's goal after he finished off a corner kick with his back to goal.
Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois could only watch as the ball flew into his net.
Jagoba Arrasate's Vermilion side defended tightly at the back and left little space for Madrid's attackers, who did not find the formula until a goal from the whiteboard brought the score level.
Argentine Franco Mastantuono brought the ball out from the corner to Álvaro Carreras, who in turn crossed for Dean Huijsen to set up Güler, who scored unchallenged.
Mallorca had not yet recovered from the blow when Vinicius drilled the goal defended by Leo Román after cutting back to his marker following a counter-attack launched through the middle.
"It's already starting to live the dream nights. I'm super happy here, what was important was the three points," Carreras told Movistar+ Carreras about the comeback.
In the first half, Kylian Mbappé (8, 45+1) had two goals disallowed for a disallowed position and Güler (54) was denied another for handling the ball. The referee resorted to the VAR to review the action.
But Mallorca did not stay with their arms folded and tried. Portugal's Samu Costa (66) had the equalizer at his feet, but Carreras deflected the trajectory on the same line.
"We knew that these three games were important to compete them, evolve in things, defining the path. It tells us a lot.There comes the break and now comes the next block, but nine out of nine points is good. There are good things and things to correct, which we will do," said Xabi Alonso.
Barcelona and Villarreal, both with two wins, will visit Rayo (11th) and Celta Vigo (17th), respectively on Sunday, while Atletico Madrid (15th) slipped up again this Saturday with a draw against Alaves (10th) and just two points at the start of the league.
Also on Sunday, another team with full points in the first two rounds, Athletic Club, will visit Chilean Manuel Pellegrini's Betis.
Third setback
Argentine attacker Giuliano Simeone converted Atletico's first shot on target (7) into a goal, but Carlos Vicente levelled matters (14) with a penalty shortly after for the home side.
In his goal, Diego Simeone's son recovered a rebound after a shot by his compatriot Thiago Almada, which was cleared by goalkeeper Antonio Sivera, to drill into the Vitoria goal.
But the joy was short-lived for the colchoneros, who desperately needed a win to get closer to the leading positions and not fall further behind the other big teams.
At a corner at the near post, the referee pointed to the spot for a foul by Norwegian Alexander Sorloth on Argentine defender Nahuel Tenaglia.
Carlos Vicente equalized after completely fooling Slovenian Jan Oblak.
Despite the referee adding an extra quarter of an hour of extra time, Atletico consummated their third slip in La Liga, in which they are fourteenth with two points, while Alaves are in tenth place with four points.
In other matches of the day, Oviedo achieved its first win in LaLiga, after returning to the competition 24 years later, by winning 1-0 at its stadium against Real Sociedad, while Girona lost 2-0 against Sevilla at Montilivi confirming its dismal start to the league (0 points).
LATEST
