Vinicius Jr scored twice and Kylian Mbappe was on target yet again as Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid saw off Villarreal to avoid consecutive league defeats and secure a convincing 3-1 win over the 10 men at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday evening. The visitors were reduced 10 men in the second half when Santiago Mourino was sent off, while Mbappe was forced off late on through injury.
Madrid created admittedly little in the first half. Aurelien Tchouameni came closest for Los Blancos, heading wide after a clever piece of work from Vinicius. Villarreal had their chances, too. Tani Oluwaseyi ran through on goal, but was denied by a signature stop by Thibaut Courtois.
The Brazilian broke the game open in the second half. It took a wonderful piece of skill, him darting past his defender before seeing a deflected effort fly past a stranded goalkeeper. He added another after 69 minutes, winning a penalty before converting it to double Madrid’s lead. And that should have been it. But Villarreal responded, Georges Mikautadze smashing home to make it 2-1 with 20 minutes to play.
But Mbappe had the final say. The Frenchman pulled off a tidy exchange with substitute Brahim Diaz before side-footing home to kill things off – and avoid an early slip in the title race.
GOAL rates Real Madrid’s players from the Santiago Bernabeu…