Mallorca strike late to dent Real Madrid's title challenge

Madrid: Mallorca dealt Real Madrid a damaging 2-1 defeat in La Liga on Saturday, with Vedat Muriqi scoring in stoppage time to hand the hosts a surprise victory and hurt Los Blancos' hopes in the Spanish title race.

Real Madrid, coached by Alvaro Arbeloa, appeared to have salvaged a point when Eder Militao headed in with two minutes remaining. But Muriqi struck in the 91st minute to secure all three points for Mallorca, who moved up to 17th place.

The result left second-placed Real Madrid four points behind leaders Barcelona, who were due to visit Atletico Madrid later on Saturday.

Arbeloa said his side had not matched the demands of the contest. "For me it is easy to see but the hard thing is for the players to know that without giving 200 percent today, we were not going to win, he told reporters. "We were on top in the first half but because of one mistake, they scored. Here if you slip up for a moment... you end up paying the price.

"This is the elite, the top flight... not having a better second half than we did is what hurts me the most," he added.

With Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich in mind, Arbeloa left Vinicius Junior on the bench at the start. Madrid struggled to find rhythm in the opening half and created only a limited number of clear opportunities.

The best early chance fell to Kylian Mbappe, who was fit after a knee sprain that has troubled him for months. Arda Guler played a pass behind the Mallorca defence, but goalkeeper Leo Roman blocked the French forward's effort with his leg. Roman later denied Mbappe again after Eduardo Camavinga set him up, while Antonio Rudiger headed over from a corner.

Mallorca had shown warning signs when Manu Morlanes headed just over, and he soon put the home side ahead. After getting away from Camavinga, Morlanes arrived in the area to meet Pablo Maffeo's cross and fired into the bottom corner past Andriy Lunin.

Late drama at both ends

Roman produced another save from Mbappe early in the second half as Madrid pushed for an equaliser. Arbeloa then introduced Vinicius, Jude Bellingham and Militao, who was making his first appearance since December following injury.

Madrid continued to press, but Mallorca, under Martin Demichelis, remained organised defensively for much of the second half. The visitors finally broke through late on when Trent Alexander-Arnold delivered a corner that Militao met with a powerful header into the top corner.

However, Mallorca responded immediately. Muriqi, who is second in the division's scoring chart behind Mbappe with 19 goals, beat Lunin in stoppage time to seal the win.

The striker showed visible emotion after scoring, having missed a penalty in Mallorca's previous match, a loss against fellow relegation battlers Elche. He also recently missed out on World Cup qualification with Kosovo in a play-off against Turkey.

"It's been two difficult weeks... emotions and nerves get the better of me, I'm human, many thanks to the fans for the enormous support and everything you've given me. I hope we can stay in the top flight," he added.

The victory moved Mallorca two points clear of the relegation zone, and the players celebrated with supporters after the final whistle.

Demichelis said the result was important for the squad's morale, while also stressing that the fight for survival was not over. "I've really wanted the boys to feel joy like this," he said. "It doesn't mean we are safe, but they needed it, we kept taking blows. The boys were beaten down but training very well."