Mbappe kept quiet as Mallorca matches Madrid
Kylian Mbappe was unable to score on his LaLiga debut for Real Madrid as the defending champion was held to a 1-1 draw at Real Mallorca in a frustrating first outing for Carlo Ancelotti's men.
The result sees Los Blancos concede early ground to Barcelona in the title race after it started its campaign with a reasonably routine 2-1 win at Valencia.
Vedat Muriqi's second-half header for the home side cancelled out Rodrygo's early strike and denied Mbappe a win on his domestic debut.
Madrid started well and took the lead thanks to a fine curling strike by Brazilian forward Rodrygo, who was cutely assisted by a backheel pass from compatriot Vinicius Junior in the 13th minute.
However, Muriqi netted a powerful header from a corner in the 53rd minute to level for Mallorca, which had gone close when Thibaut Courtois fumbled a shot before the break.
Mbappe twice went close to restoring Madrid's lead, first hitting the post from a tight angle before seeing a low effort saved by Dominik Greif, with Johan Mojica making a fantastic clearance to prevent Rodrygo getting on to the rebound.
Madrid's frustrations boiled over just before full-time when defender Ferland Mendy was shown a straight red for a rash lunge.
Madrid has failed to win its opening game of a LaLiga season for the first time in six seasons under Carlo Ancelotti, while this is just the sixth time it has started a campaign in the competition with a draw in the 21st Century.
Rodrygo grabbed the champion's first goal of the season. He now has 50 LaLiga goal contributions (27 goals, 23 assists) in 143 matches, having also netted Los Blancos' first league strike last term.
