Sports Mole previews Sunday’s La Liga clash between Mallorca and Atletico Madrid, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Atletico Madrid will be looking to make it successive wins in Spain’s top flight when they resume domestic matters with an away game against Mallorca on Sunday afternoon.
Diego Simeone‘s side are 11th in the La Liga table, boasting only five points from their first four matches, while a disappointing start for the hosts has left them in 19th spot in the division on one point.
Match preview
Mallorca opened their 2025-26 La Liga campaign with a 3-0 home defeat to Barcelona, before drawing 1-1 with Celta Vigo on August 23 to move off the mark for the new season.
However, successive defeats have followed against Real Madrid and Espanyol, with one point from four matches leaving them in 19th spot in the division, so it has been a tough start for the Pirates.
Jagoba Arrasate’s side need to put a win on the board as soon as possible, and the fact that Atletico were in Champions League action during the week could work in the home side’s favour here.
Mallorca were 10th in Spain’s top flight last season, only four points off the European spots, but there have been no signs thus far that the team are capable of pushing for Europe this term.
The Pirates have won 18 of their previous 65 matches against Atletico, suffering 33 defeats in the process, and each of their last five contests have been won by the Red and Whites.
Atletico’s start to the 2025-26 campaign has been disappointing, picking up just two points from their first three league matches, losing to Espanyol before being held by Elche and Alaves.
Simeone’s side did manage to record their first victory of the season after the September international break, beating Villarreal 2-0 on home soil, but they will enter this match off the back of a loss in the Champions League.
The capital giants fought back from two goals behind to level it up at 2-2 with Liverpool on Wednesday evening, only for Virgil van Dijk to score a last-gasp winner for the Premier League champions.
Atletico have therefore already been beaten twice this season, and they are down in 11th spot in the La Liga table, boasting only five points from four matches.
The Red and Whites will be looking to get closer to the top of the table this term after failing to push for the title in 2024-25, but they are already seven points off the pace being set by their Madrid rivals Real Madrid.
Mallorca La Liga form:
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Atletico La Liga form:
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Atletico form (all competitions):
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Team News
Mallorca could be without both Javi Llabres and Marash Kumbulla on Sunday, with the pair needing to be assessed before their involvement can be determined.
Vedat Muriqi has been comfortably the team’s best performer this season, scoring three times in three appearances, and he is a certainty in the final third of the field this weekend.
Mateo Joseph is still waiting for his first goal of the campaign, but the 21-year-old is expected to keep his spot, while there should be another start in a wide area for former Barcelona attacker Pablo Torre.
As for Atletico, Alex Baena, Jose Gimenez and Thiago Almada are definitely out through injury, while Johnny Cardoso and Julian Alvarez are fitness doubts for the trip to Mallorca.
Alvarez suffered a knee injury in Atletico’s clash with Villarreal last weekend, which saw him miss out against Liverpool, and it remains to be seen if the Argentina international will recover in time.
Nico Gonzalez is likely to continue down the left for Atletico this weekend, while David Hancko, Koke and Alexander Sorloth could all earn recalls into the starting side.
Mallorca possible starting lineup:
Roman; Maffeo, Valjent, Raillo, Mojica; Darder, Morlanes, Costa, Torre; Muriqi, Joseph
Atletico Madrid possible starting lineup:
Oblak; Llorente, Le Normand, Lenglet, Hancko; Simeone, Koke, Barrios, Gonzalez; Griezmann, Sorloth
We say: Mallorca 0-1 Atletico Madrid
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Atletico need to bounce back this weekend following their European defeat, and while we are not expecting this to be a classic, the visitors should be able to navigate their way to an important three points.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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