In Sunday’s 2-0 win over Real Betis, Kylian Mbappé scored two goals in less than 10 minutes to end his goal slump in the Spanish league.
As Madrid’s most expensive signing in years, Mbappé scored once in the team’s UEFA Super Cup win over Atalanta last month, but he hadn’t scored in his last three Spanish league games.
“I was looking forward to scoring in this legendary stadium, the best in the world,” said Mbappé. “But the most important thing was the victory.”
Federico Valverde set him up with a nice backheel pass in the 67th minute, and he scored the first goal at the Santiago Bernabeu with a low left-footed shot from inside the box. After Vinicius Junior was fouled in the 75th minute, Mbappe scored a penalty kick to make it 2-0.
It had been a tough start for Madrid. They had drawn two of their first three games and only beat Valladolid once, also at the Bernabeu. After this win, the defending winner fell four points behind Barcelona, who has won all four games so far this season.
“After the game against Las Palmas we knew that we had to win and we did it,” he said. “It was a tough match, but we are Real Madrid and in the end we won it.”
Madrid’s coach Carlo Ancelotti said Mbappé was never put under any kind of pressure to win a league game.
“Scoring was important for him, but we also look at how well the team did as a whole, which was better than the last game.” It was a development.
After three games, Betis still hadn’t won any of them. Two of Manuel Pellegrini’s games had ended in draws.
Vitor Roque, a young Brazilian forward, came on as a replacement in the second half for the Seville team in which he is on loan from Barcelona, a rival of Real Madrid.
Starting with last season, Madrid hasn’t given up a goal in any of its last five league games at Bernabeu. This is the first time in the competition since 1996 that the club has done this.
Real Madrid has won all 26 of its league home games, with four draws. This is the best run they’ve had under Ancelotti.
Madrid had the worst start to a league season since it won the competition in 2019–20, with only five points from three games.
Sevilla lost to Girona 2-0 at home, making it four games without a win.
Girolama has now won two games in a row thanks to goals from Iván Martin and Abel Ruiz in each half. In the next round, it will play Barcelona in a Game of Friendship.
Sevilla had tied two of its first three games, both on the road. It had also lost at home to Villarreal.
Getafe and Real Sociedad drew 0-0 at home, and Las Palmas lost 2-0 at Alaves. Both teams have not won yet. Celta Vigo lost their third straight game after starting the season with two wins in a row. Ohsasuna beat them 3-2.