Real Madrid locked horns with Real Mallorca in an away game, Arbeloa who was sent off against Malaga in the Copa del Rey started the game in defense for Real Madrid. Higuain was on the bench, Karim Benzema who has been in rich vein of form started for the away team, Callejon got himself a start.

The home team played physical football right from word go, Ronaldo was especially targeted. Pablo Cendros Lopez who injured Ronaldo in the last meeting was at it once again, he fouled Ronaldo several times in the first-half and the referee issued no caution to the player which encouraged him to do the same over and over again.

The away side had some uncertain moments in the opening half, Lass Diarra was pretty average, the player gave the ball away cheaply a few times in the first-half. Ramos and Pepe were not on the same wave length but thankfully no damage was done. However, damage was done in the 39th minute when Tomer Hemed opened the scoring, the goal came from a corner.

Ramos almost equalized before heading into the break but his powerful header came back off the post, it was agonizingly close.

Real Mallorca went into the half-time break leading 1-0.

Diarra was taken off in the 45th minute, Higuain was introduced by Mourinho.

Marcelo was taken off in the 59th minute, Fabio Coentrao came on as his replacement. Kaka also came on in the 59th minute for Arbeloa.

Parity was restored in the 72nd minute when Higuain found the back of the net, the ball deflected off a defender and also beat the keeper, the keeper committed himself too early and paid the price for it.

Real Madrid went ahead in the 84th minute when a rasping drive by Callejon beat the keeper and two defenders who were standing on the line, it was a fantastic goal.

Real Madrid won the game 2-1, it was a very hard fought win. The win takes Real Madrid 8 points clear of their bitter rivals in Barcelona.

Contentious Decisions:

Hemed of Mallorca who netted the first goal put the ball in the back of the net but it was ruled out for offside but the player picked the ball from inside his own half which means he was not offside.

Ramos scored a fine header but it was also ruled out because he was in an offside position according to the commentators, after watching the replays it can be concluded that his arm was in an offside position, the whole incident is very debatable. The linesman did not raise his flag for offside, he raised his flag believing that it was a foul on the keeper but clearly there was absolutely no contact with the keeper.

Unlucky Ronaldo:

Ronaldo unleashed a firecracker which the keeper could not do anything about but sadly for the player the ball hit the crossbar and bounced straight back.

Malicious Players:

Pablo Cendros kept fouling Ronaldo through out the game, the player was booked in the second-half, there were some heavy challenges on Callejon as well which went unpunished.