Real Madrid’s poor form continued on Sunday as the Los Blancos lost to Mallorca 1-0 to give Barcelona the opportunity to go 8-point clear, permitting the Blaugrana to win against Sevilla later on Sunday evening.

The defending champions drew against Real Sociedad last weekend, a situation that Barcelona took advantage of to go five points clear. Although Carlo Ancelotti’s men went on to beat Valencia mid-week, Barcelona didn’t stumble in their outstanding game too.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side went behind to a 13th-minute own goal from Nacho Fernandez. Despite dominating the first half, Real Madrid were frustrated, and the only thing they got from the half was yellow cards to Vinicius Junior and Dani Ceballos.

Real Madrid were given a chance to equalize from the penalty spot, but Marco Asensio failed to score. After the game, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti took responsibility for allowing Asensio to take the penalty.

“I picked the taker because Benzema, Modric, and Kroos were all off the pitch at that point. It was between Asensio and Rodrygo, and we thought that Rodrygo might be a little mentally affected from his miss in the World Cup.” Ancelotti said.

Real Madrid will switch their attention to the FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco, where they will face Al Ahly in the semi-final on Wednesday. Their return to La Liga will be against Elche on February 15 at Santiago Bernabeu.

In other games, Girona beat Valencia 1-0, while Real Sociedad were stunned 1-0 at home by Real Valladolid. Monday’s fixture in La Liga will see Rayo Vallecano welcome Almeria to the Vallecas.

While Almeria have drawn three, lost one, and won one of their last five in all competitions, they remain two points away from the relegation zone.

Rayo, on the other hand, have two wins in their last five, losing three, but it hasn’t seen them drop out of the top ten, and a win on Monday evening will see them move into fifth position ahead of Villarreal.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu