Mallorca, opting for a 5-4-1, found Brahim Díaz running at the defence rather than Vinicius (on the bench) and causing early problems, while Raíllo got an early yellow for manhandling Jude Bellingham.
Otherwise, nothing much happened until around the half hour: Raíllo's header drew a save from Lunin and Bellingham hit the bar. Andriy Lunin in Madrid's goal was looking a bit shaky and missed a Lato cross in the 38th minute; Rüdiger to the rescue with Maffeo sniffing an opportunity.
Two minutes into the second half, and Madrid were ahead, Aurélien Tchouaméni shooting from distance and the ball taking a deflection off Morlanes and past Rajkvoic.
Díaz once again caused problems on 55 minutes, going past two defenders before shooting; Rajkovic did well to save. Six minutes later, a fine pass by Mascarell put in Lato; Nacho got ahead of Abdón and cleared, and immediately it was Díaz again, this time shooting straight at Rajkovic.
Vinicius, on for Díaz, now posed a different threat to the Mallorca defence, and he did his old friend Pablo Maffeo for pace, but there was no one on the end of his cross. On 72 minutes, he skipped past one defender and set up Valverde, whose effort was cleared off the line by Nastasic.
Mallorca were then denied an equaliser when Lunin pushed away a stunning strike by Sergi Darder. That was the home side's last big chance, and they could have gone two-down when Lato made a blunder in added time.
Mallorca remain fifteenth in La Liga, 31 points from 31 matches, and six points ahead of Cadiz in eighteenth.
Mallorca: Rajkovic; Maffeo (Radonjic 78), González, Raíllo, Nastasic, Lato; Sánchez (Abdón 58), Morlanes (Mascarell 58), S. Costa (Darder 58), Rodríguez (Larin 86); Muriqi
Madrid: Lunin; Vázquez (Militao 90), Rüdiger, Nacho, Mendy; Tchouaméni, Modric (Carvajal 86); Valverde, Bellingham (Camavingha 63), Díaz (Vinicius 63); Joselu
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