Barcelona’s Kylian Mbappe doubled Real Madrid’s lead in the LaLiga competition after a 4-1 win over Rayo Vallecano at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday, keeping the club on one level with the competition leaders.
In the 14th minute, Mbappe was awarded a penalty after his penalty area was flagged by Florian Lejeune following an Alvaro Carreras mid-air loop and he diced in to put the ball into the net. It was Carreras who was caught again 3 minutes later when he put himself in the scoring position after losing possession to Vinicius Junior.
Real Madrid extended their scoring lead before half-time with Jude Bellingham’s third. The speedy forward Vinicius sprinted forward on the left and was met by the England midfielder on the opposite side of the box and Bellingham calmly beat in the bottom corner.
Before half-time, Mbappe looked set to make it three when his shot ricocheted off the post but Rayo had another chance to threaten when Andrei Ratiu fired long-range, which forced Thibaut Courtois to make a save as well.
The visitors even equalized six minutes in the second half. Sergio Camello found himself in a difficult position after another Real Madrid error, but was able to put the ball in the corner through Ibrahima Konate’s legs.
Rayo built up pressure in the Madrid half and had several good periods of control in the game, which clearly caused a degree of frustration for the home side and manager Jose Mourinho. Goalkeeper Emil Audero also had to make a crucial save from Denzel Dumfries with 13 minutes to play.
Real Madrid however put an end to the affair in stoppage time. The first minute of added time proved decisive as Mbappe did a quick counter attack to score and complete his 2-2-2 tally.
