Kylian Mbappé stepped up in the 14th minute, sent Emil Audero the wrong way from the penalty spot, and by the 35th minute Real Madrid were three up and the game was effectively over. The 4-1 win over Rayo Vallecano at the Bernabéu did more than just return Madrid to winning ways in LaLiga. It showed how quickly they can put a setback behind them.
The penalty came after a sharp piece of attacking play. Vinícius Júnior released Álvaro Carreras into the area and Rayo defender Florian Lejeune brought the left-back down. Mbappé took responsibility and converted, giving José Mourinho’s side the lead they had been searching for since Rayo produced the first meaningful effort of the match. That came in the ninth minute, when winger Giorgi Tsitaishvili forced Thibaut Courtois into a low save.
Three minutes after Mbappé’s opener, Madrid doubled their advantage. Lejeune misplaced a pass back towards his own goalkeeper, Mbappé collected the loose ball and found Carreras, who moved into the area and finished with his left foot. It was the kind of defensive error that changes the shape of an afternoon, and Rayo never really recovered from it.
The third goal arrived in the 35th minute. Vinícius cut the ball back from the left and Jude Bellingham, left completely unmarked inside the box, placed his finish beyond Audero. The England international had time to pick his spot, and he used it well. At 3-0, the match looked done as a contest.
Rayo had other ideas at the start of the second half. Pedro Díaz struck the post from distance, a warning that Madrid’s grip on the game was not as firm as the scoreline suggested. The warning became a goal in the 51st minute. Antonio Rüdiger lost possession while trying to play forward, leaving Sergio Camello free to collect the loose ball and finish underneath Courtois. It was a sloppy goal to concede, and it gave Rayo a foothold they had not deserved in the first half.
The visitors pushed harder after that. Tsitaishvili forced another save from Courtois and later headed over at the back post. Madrid, for a spell, looked rattled. But they regained control as the half progressed, and Audero was called into action again to deny Denzel Dumfries. The Rayo goalkeeper also kept out efforts from Arda Güler and Mbappé, keeping the deficit at two goals and giving his side a chance, however slim, of finding a way back into the match.
Mbappé ended any lingering doubt in the first minute of stoppage time. Güler helped move the ball across the pitch before finding the French forward on the right. Mbappé drove a powerful shot across Audero and into the bottom-left corner to make it 4-1. It was his second goal of the evening, his second from open play after the early penalty, and it put a clean edge on a performance that had wobbled slightly after the restart.
The result moves Madrid back into their rhythm after a difficult Betis setback, and the manner of the response will please Mourinho as much as the points. The first-half display was sharp, direct and clinical. The second half was less controlled, but the margin of victory was never seriously threatened once Mbappé added his second.
For Rayo, there were spells after the interval where they looked capable of making the scoreline respectable, and Camello’s goal was well taken. But the damage had been done in a first half where their defending let them down badly. Lejeune’s error for the second goal was the kind of mistake that gets punished at this level, and Madrid were happy to oblige.
Mbappé’s brace takes him to the top of the scoring charts for Madrid this season, and his movement across the front line caused problems all evening. The penalty was dispatched with confidence, the stoppage-time finish was emphatic, and in between he worked tirelessly, dropping deep to link play and stretching the Rayo defence with runs in behind.
The win was built on the contributions of the full-backs and the midfield. Carreras got forward well and took his goal cleanly, while Bellingham’s arrival in the box at the right moment made it 3-0. Güler, introduced from the bench, played a part in the fourth goal and looked bright in the closing stages.
Madrid’s attention now turns to their next fixture, but the immediate takeaway from this one is straightforward. They conceded a sloppy goal, they lost control for a period in the second half, and they still won by three. Against a Rayo side that kept going until the final whistle, that was enough.
According to Yahoo Sports.
