Spain: Real Madrid held at Mallorca
Mallorca 1 - 1 Real Madrid
Kylian Mbappé made his La Liga debut as reigning champions Real Madrid were held to a draw by Mallorca on the opening day of the season.
The French captain had already made a strong start at his new club, scoring in Wednesday's 2-0 UEFA Super Cup victory over Atalanta.
However, the summer signing from Paris Saint-Germain was unable to find the net in his first domestic league appearance.
Rodrygo put Carlo Ancelotti's side ahead with a superb goal, finishing off a clever backheel from Vinícius Júnior.
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But Mallorca responded when Vedat Muriqi headed in Dani Rodríguez's cross to equalise.
Madrid's defender, Ferland Mendy, was sent off in the final moments of injury time after a reckless challenge on Muriqi.
Mbappé, PSG's all-time top scorer and a six-time Ligue 1 Golden Boot winner, had several opportunities for Madrid. He narrowly missed the target with one effort and forced goalkeeper Dominik Greif into a save with another.
This marked the first time the 25-year-old World Cup winner played a league match outside of France, after beginning his career at Monaco.
Best social media reaction
As expected, the match was discussed and analysed all of the major social media platforms. The Real Madrid Twitter/X posted the thoughts of the Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti.
👔 @MrAncelotti: "We're a very attacking team, but defensive balance is a fundamental factor."#MallorcaRealMadrid pic.twitter.com/oVL6yPOSMf
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) August 18, 2024
Liam, a Manchester United fan, watched the match on TV as a neutral. He perhaps gave a controversial view of the match on his Facebook page. Liam said: "That wasn't a great performance from Real Madrid. I'd argue they didn't need Mbappé. They already had an amazing squad and this could have created an imbalance. There's still a long way to go but I don't think it will all be easy for them this season."
You can watch the highlights of the match in the video below.The footage is from the official Real Madrid YouTube account.
