Atletico Madrid-Mallorca
By: Jeremy | October 31st, 2008After a midweek game in the Copa that saw Mallorca earn a 1-1 away draw against Malaga, a much improved club, Mallorca gets to travel to the Calderon to take on Atletico in a game that has some interesting possibilities.
Madrid sits at 10 points, one behind Mallorca, but is no doubt the better team. With Madrid castoffs sent to Mallorca in either permanent or loan moves, Madrid on paper seems to have the better talent. It does not help that because Santana and Jurado are on loan from Madrid, they cannot play this weekend for Mallorca making a tough match even tougher.
Madrid is trying to get back into that group of upper echelon teams where a UEFA Cup birth is automatic and trying to slide into the Champions League is the real goal. While their point total seems disappointing, they are on a run of bad results against the big clubs ie Villarreal, Real Madrid, and Barca. They have beaten the lower level teams and they no doubt see Mallorca as one of those teams they should beat, especially at home. If their results against the lower level teams continue, they will move back up pretty quick.
Mallorca comes in with incosistency that has been discussed at length in previous posts so there is no way to guess which team will show up. Even on a good day, they face a tough match this weekend. Aduriz seems to be coming into his own and the team seems healthy so Manzano will have a lot of choices for players looking to make an impression in the absence of Jurado and Santana this weekend.
Because of the schedule, the positions of the teams seem a little out of sync. Madrid expects this weekend to begin a run of results that will hopefully move them back into the European places while Mallorca needs to beat some upper echelon teams or they will sink fast as they still must play the bigger clubs where points will be impossible to get. Considering all the offseason upheavel, Mallorca cannot be too disappointed at their place in the standings, but the talent is there to be a top ten club or better.
With both teams inconsistency this year, it could be a close match or very easily a Madrid blowout. While a draw on the road could be the result if I am predicting in a biased way, I think this is a weekend where Madrid gets things back on track unfortunately. It could be ugly.
Prediction
Atletico Madrid 4-1 Mallorca
Category: Mallorca Team News
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