Atletico Madrid vs Mallorca
Atletico Madrid will be looking to put their ‘Mallorca jinx’ to bed when the two sides lock horns in a midweek La Liga showdown at the Metropolitano Stadium.
After a 16th successive managerial trip to Barcelona knocked his Atletico Madrid side down from an eye-catching 13-game unbeaten La Liga run (W10, D3), Diego Simeone will relish his team’s homecoming clash against Mallorca. ‘Los Rojiblancos’ have strung together five straight home league victories for the first time since August 2021 and are in a prime position to avenge last season’s disappointing 2-1 H2H defeat on home turf. Before that defeat, Atletico had gone unbeaten in eight top-flight meetings with Mallorca in Madrid (W3, D5), keeping four clean sheets in that sequence. Considered warm favorites due to their seven-game unbeaten LL home run (W6, D1), Atletico can be reassured that his team is not at risk of dropping out of the top four as they start this round 12 points clear of fifth-placed Real Betis.
Meanwhile, visiting Mallorca have enjoyed an upturn in form in the lead-up to this trip, going from six consecutive league games without winning (D3, L3) to back-to-back victories over bottom-half sides Celta Vigo and Getafe. The visitors’ hopes of staying on the upward trajectory rely on Mallorca’s improved La Liga form in Comunidad de Madrid as they’ve gone from losing ten of their 11 league visits to the capital (D1) to taking two wins in their last five such contests (L3). Speaking of their resurgence, Javier Aguirre’s men haven’t lost on their two most recent La Liga travels (W1, D1) after suffering six straight league defeats on hostile turf beforehand. That could inspire their unlikely pursuit of a fourth consecutive top-flight win over Atletico, a feat they last achieved in 1999.