Rudiger earns Real Madrid narrow win over Mallorca

Agency :
Antonio Rudiger’s second-half goal earned La Liga leaders Real Madrid a 1-0 home win over Mallorca on Wednesday, extending their unbeaten league run to 13 games.

Centre back Rudiger broke the deadlock in the 78th minute as he capitalized on some sloppy defending from Luka Modric’s corner to power a header into the top corner and score his first goal of the season.

“Great cross by Luka, great block by (Dani) Carvajal and luckily it went in,” Rudiger told reporters.

“I’m happy because it was an important goal and three important points for us. This team has something special, a good mix of young and old talent.”

Mallorca had mounted a resilient defensive display and came close to shocking Real with two efforts that hit the woodwork.

Vinicius Jr also went close to scoring on his return to action after being sidelined with an injury but Mallorca keeper Predrag Rajkovic made a superb save to deny the Brazilian in the first half.

“It’s always a difficult game when you come back from holidays,” Real defender Carvajal told Real Madrid TV.