VEDAT MURIQI SNATCHED Mallorca a surprise 2-1 La Liga win over Real Madrid on Saturday to deal Los Blancos a significant blow in the Spanish title race.
Alvaro Arbeloa’s side thought they had rescued a point after Eder Militao nodded home with two minutes remaining before Muriqi pounced in stoppage time to help the hosts climb to 17th.
The defeat leaves second-place Real Madrid four points behind leaders Barcelona, who visit Atletico Madrid later on Saturday.
Arbeloa started the game with Vinicius Junior on the bench, with Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich in mind.
Madrid lacked spark in the first half, creating few openings of note. The best was for top scorer Kylian Mbappe, fit after a knee sprain that has troubled him for months.
Arda Guler rolled a ball in behind Mallorca’s defence for the French superstar to dart on to but Leo Roman saved with his leg.
The goalkeeper denied Mbappe again after Eduardo Camavinga fed him and Antonio Rudiger also nodded over from a corner.
Manu Morlanes threatened for Mallorca, heading just over, but Madrid did not heed the warning.
The midfielder opened the scoring a few minutes later, losing Camavinga and arriving into the box to fire Pablo Maffeo’s cross into the bottom corner past Andriy Lunin.
Leo Roman saved from Mbappe early in the second half as Madrid searched for an equaliser.
Arbeloa sent on Vinicius, Jude Bellingham and Militao for his first appearance since December after injury.
Madrid huffed and puffed but to little avail as Martin Demichelis’s Mallorca stayed solid at the back until the final stages.
They were eventually undone by Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner, whipped towards Militao, who powered a header into the top corner.
However there was a sting in the tail for Madrid.
Muriqi, second top scorer in the division behind Mbappe, lashed past Lunin in the 91st minute to claim three points for his side with his 18th league goal of the campaign.
Mallorca climbed two points clear of the drop zone after recording a famous victory, which the players celebrated gleefully with the fans at the end.
Meanwhile, Bayern came from two goals down in the last 10 minutes to win 3-2 at Freiburg in the Bundesliga, ahead of their midweek Champions League trip to the Bernabeu.
Trailing 2-0 and without injured talisman Harry Kane, Tom Bischof scored twice before Lennart Karl grabbed the winner in the ninth minute of stoppage time.
 Tom Bischof scored twice for Bayern. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo
The victory took title-bound Bayern 12 points clear of Borussia Dortmund, who play at Stuttgart later on Saturday.
With Kane sidelined by an ankle complaint, Vincent Kompany opted to leave Michael Olise and Dayot Upamecano on the bench ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Madrid, whom Bayern have not beaten since 2012.
Veteran Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer returned from injury and rescued the visitors with two superb saves in the first half.
Freiburg took the lead just after the break when Johan Manzambi blasted a long-range effort into the corner with Neuer flat-footed.
Lucas Hoeler doubled Freiburg’s lead on 71 minutes to seemingly put his side on track for a first league win over Bayern since 2015.
The defending champions sparked into life late however, with Bischof scoring in the 81st minute and again in stoppage time. Substitute Alphonso Davies set up Karl for the winner with an excellent low pass across the face of goal.
Two pieces of individual brilliance helped RB Leipzig down Werder Bremen 2-1 away to strengthen their bid for a top-four finish.
Antonio Nusa put Leipzig in front with an excellent shot from outside the box and Romulo drove a low shot into the corner to pad the visitors’ advantage.
The victory took Leipzig level with third-placed Stuttgart. Bremen sit four points ahead of St Pauli, who occupy the relegation play-off spot.
Elsewhere, Bayer Leverkusen came from behind twice to win 6-3 in a wild clash at home to Wolfsburg to stay in Champions League contention.
Wolfsburg’s Danish contingent Jonas Wind, Joakim Maehle and Christian Eriksen all scored before half-time to put the Wolves 3-1 up against a Leverkusen side coached by former Denmark boss Kasper Hjulmand.
Leverkusen pulled one back before the break and then responded with four second-half goals to grab control of the match.
Alejandro Grimaldo bagged a brace, while Patrik Schick, Ibrahim Maza, Edmond Tapsoba and Malik Tillman also scored as Leverkusen moved four points behind fourth-placed Leipzig.
Leverkusen’s win took them a point behind Hoffenheim, whose 2-1 home defeat to Mainz continued their slide.
Cruising in third in February, Hoffenheim are now fifth and have won just one of their past six matches.
Borussia Moenchengladbach drew 2-2 with last-placed Heidenheim, while 10-man Hamburg drew 1-1 at home with Augsburg.
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