Real Madrid vs. Mallorca Betting Tips: Huge card price on offer takes appeal

Carlo Ancelotti and his Real Madrid side will look to maintain a 100% start to the season when the visiting Mallorca rock up to the Santiago Bernabeu for Sunday's 1pm La Liga fixture.

Tuesday night marked Madrid's first clean sheet of the new campaign, athough they left Celtic Park with a close escape following a barrage of goalmouth action for Thibaut Courtois in the opening 45 minutes.

Despite being yet to face any extraordinary opposition in La Liga, Carlo Ancelotti's side have endured some defensive struggles in their four league outings thus far. A quartet of Almeria, Celta Vigo, Espanyol and Real Betis have all notched against the defending La Liga title holders, even if results have gone Los Blancos' way in each of these encounters.

Mallorca are the second club to visit the Santiago Bernabeu this term, and will be keen to emulate a spirited Real Betis side who marginally lost in the previous outing before them.

The away side's defensive setup doesn't immediately scream "both teams to score!" but as Celtic evidenced midweek, this Madrid team can be gotten at with the right dose of pace, bravery and intent.

Javier Aguirre's men have scored in three of their four matches in the 22/23 season, and certainly should not be counted out when it comes to challenging the Madrid goal.

Look at last season's meetings with some of the top teams in Spain; they did the double over at Atletico, scored at this very venue against Real, saw BTTS land in both fixtures with Betis, and lost by a single goal in both ties with Barcelona - grabbing a goal at the Nou Camp for good measure.

An unsettled centre-back pairing adds fuel to the fire and whether Eder Militao drops to the bench for Antonio Rudiger just like Ancelotti's half-time switch north of the border, expect Mallorca to cause them some issues.

As alluded to, Madrid may find difficulty in creating space against a back five who will willingly concede possession in order to maintain control and instead choose their moments to strike.

Two key figures in this tight unit are located on the right-hand side in right back Pablo Maffeo and centre back Martin Valjent. Each have only found themselves booked once this term - both in the same match - committing one and three fouls respectively. But it's data from last term regarding the second name mentioned that has caught our eye.

Valjent was booked on just four occasions compared to Maffeo's 10 yellows. However, there was only a difference of six fouls between them, meaning that the latter found himself in the simplest of terms as being cautioned for every single extra foul he made than his teammate!

Really it's less about these figures and more about who he is going to be facing on Sunday: Vinicius Junior. He is the third-most frequently fouled player in the division from the opening four games; only Oscar Trejo and Joao Felix have won more.

In Benzema's absence there will be a great expectation for him to carry the team's attacking presence on his shoulders. He's naturally someone who will drift inside a lot anyway, but without the focal point of an out-and-out striker to lean on, the Brazilian could well find himself operating more centrally than usual if he's to carve an opening for Real.

The Slovak in question is a mainstay in Aguirre's plans, having played all of the available minutes so far and falling just two appearances shy of a 100% attendance record for Mallorca in the previous La Liga season. Given the disparity between his and Maffeo's prices - who is as short as 21/10 for a card with some firms - we'll take the huge 5/1 that's been priced up by Unibet for a Valjent booking.

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