Real Mallorca v Real Madrid
Football : Spain : La liga
Sunday 29th August 2010 - Kickoff

---

Welcome back to the 2010/11 season.

Real Madrid

This will be the Real Madrid's first competitive game under new manager, Jose Mourinho. All eyes will be on him as the Santiago Bernebau has high expectation on "The Special One".

The board of directors of Real Madrid turned to Mourinho after the second successive season without a trophy. With Mourinho bringing the best out of his players wherever he goes, Real Madrid will hope to begin a trophy-laden era.

With Barcelona dominating the League for the last few seasons, Jose Mourinho's task will definitely be winning and collecting three points and this is what the Portuguese manager does best.

As Mourinho is not known for his team playing "pretty" football, this will be a great chance for the big names of Real Madrid to cut their ego and start getting down to business as Mourinho is a no non-sense manager.

Having already a strong squad, Mourinho added a few summer signings which includes Di Maria, Canales, Ozil, Pedro Leon, Khedira and Carvalho. All six are likely to be included in the team that travels to Mallorca.

However, Mourinho will be without several senior players as Pepe, Kaka, Gago, Albiol, and Garay are injured while Drenthe and Diarra are omitted from the squad.

Real Mallorca

Mallorca is no easy team beat by any means. Mallorca have been solid for the entire season and finished at an astonishing 5th place last season.

The home record of Real Mallorcalast season was pretty amazing. Mallorca only lost three times at home the entire season, drawing one and winning each of the other 15 games.

Michael Laudrup will head into today’s game without Ivan Ramis and Tuni as they are both injured but he has included Fernando Cavenaghi in the squad even though he has just arrived in Mallorca.

Head to Head :

In the closing weeks of last season, Real Madrid walked away with a brilliant 4-1 win of Mallorca. Recent head to head suggest that Real Madrid does have the upper hand against Mallorca, with Real Madrid winning on seven occasions in their last ten meeting, drawing once and losing twice.

The Betting Verdict :

The departure of Raul and Gutti, two of Madrid longest serving players has signalled a new era at the Santiago Bernebau. It is time for the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka, Higuain and young Canales to step up to the level and compete with Barcelona.

Ronaldo have a lot to prove following a poor display at the World Cup. Should both these mega stars explode, Madrid will win this game comfortably.

However, with Mourinho so good at grinding out wins from his sides, I do expect Real Madrid to walk away with all three points. Real Madrid might not have a walk in the park against Mallorca but I cannot see an upset here today.

Best Regards,
-shady-

The Statistics :

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Real Madrid to win the game. Main Bet

HANDICAP BETTING :

Consider trying Real Madrid to cover -1 ball head start. (side bet)