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Real Madrid and Mallorca played out an interesting 0-0 draw at the Son Moix stadium on Sunday night and they already trail Barcelona by two points who won earlier against Racing Santander. iSporter Karan Shah analyses Los Merengues' first game of the season.

Summers at the Bernabeu are always buzzing with transfer activity as Florentino Perez's second stint as President shows Madrid's eagerness to be counted once again as a fearful force in Europe. Jose Mourinho was the star player roped in by Perez, who in turn, got a host of relatively unknown names as Canales, Pedro Leon, Angel di Maria, Mezut Oezil and Sami Khedira all signed up for bringing the glory back for Los Blancos. The pre-season went well considering it was another new look for the team, however, the first match of the season more or less indicated that Los Blancos have a lot of homework yet to be done, to be considered among the Elite.

Mourinho's starting eleven included newcomers Angel di Maria and 19 year old Canales while Mallorca started with no major surprises in their starting eleven. The match started pretty nicely for Madrid as they pressed the Mallorca defense. Lass and Alonso were the anchors in the midfield. Another of classic Mourinho tactics playing one destroyer and one creator; however this combination wasn't working that well as Madrid were unable to make any inroads against a resolute defense.

Ronaldo looked dangerous on the wings and Canales looked in the mood too as he played some amazing through balls to Higuain, who looked rather lackluster. Mallorca on the other end relied heavily on the counter attacks and they were quick to find Madrid weak link on the left of the defense and almost all the attacks generated from the left wing. Marcelo was terrible at left wing and it seems that Madrid haven't paid attention to last years left back fiascos. Both teams hardly had anything to work on as the ball stayed more on the centre of the park. The first half ended without any goals.

Sensing the deadness of the game Mourinho brought on Oezil and Benzema in the second half. The response was pretty immediate as Oezil created a number of chances for both Benzema and Higuain who both looked completely out of place. Mallorca came close too with a header that flew just wide of the post but it was the Whites that clearly looked the more lethal in attack. Ronaldo had a terrific chance late in the second half when he had only the keeper to beat, however he took a few steps too many and the danger was easily cleared. Benzema too looked exactly like the 'sleepyhead' as Mourinho described him as he failed to shoot on target in front of an empty goal. The match ended in a disappointing 0-0 draw for Real.

Mallorca's brilliant defending and goalkeeping ensured a valuable point for them, but Los Blancos could rue the missed chances later on in the season as they trail an almost undefeatable Barcelona side by 2 points first match into the season. Work needs to be done for Madrid to be a team rather than a bunch of individual talents and nothing short of a victory would suffice the Bernabeu faithful two weeks from now.

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