Antonio Rüdiger did not bother to hide his anger. Not with the cameras on him. Not with his teammates within earshot. And certainly not with Real Madrid sliding away from the La Liga title race.
After Real Mallorca’s opening goal in a bruising defeat for Los Blancos, the German centre-back erupted. The defensive line had switched off, the cross had come in from the right, and Morianis finished the move after a delivery from Pablo Mafiu. Rüdiger’s patience snapped.
DAZN cameras caught the moment he turned on Álvaro Carreras, his body language as sharp as his words. “Man! You’re a defender. You need to press harder,” he shouted, visibly furious with the Spaniard’s lack of intensity in closing down the danger.
It was not a one-off outburst. As Madrid’s back line continued to creak under pressure, Rüdiger repeated his message later in the game, again demanding Carreras step up, again insisting on more aggression in the challenge. The tone said everything: this was a senior defender who felt the basics had been abandoned.
The defeat deepened Madrid’s problems in the title chase. Every dropped point now feels heavier, every lapse more costly. Rüdiger, a serial winner, looked like a man who had seen enough of soft defending.
Another familiar storyline ran alongside the defensive chaos. Vinícius Júnior and Pablo Mafiu resumed their increasingly personal feud, a subplot that has become almost guaranteed whenever Real Madrid face Mallorca.
Mafiu, who has built a reputation for trying to drag Vinícius into psychological battles, went back to his usual tricks. At one point, the Mallorca full-back gestured towards the ball and, with a cutting dose of sarcasm, used the phrase “beach ball” – a pointed reference to Vinícius missing out on the Ballon d’Or.
It was the kind of jab designed not just to mock, but to sting. Another needle in a rivalry that refuses to cool.
On a night when Madrid needed calm heads and collective resolve, what emerged instead were flare-ups, finger-pointing, and old grudges reignited. For a team chasing trophies, the question now is whether that anger can be turned into a response on the pitch, or whether it simply exposes deeper cracks in the dressing room.
