From , a straight line game emerged in which Real Madrid smothered and overwhelmed a very weak Valencia that suffered towards the bottom of the table. After the anger, Vinicius returned to what he did, the constant threat, Mbappé continued relentlessly with his collection of goals the night he showed his Golden Boot at the Bernabéu and Bellingham didn’t lose the scoring thread either. This episode of the Xabi-Vinicius crisis closed with a pacifying win from which to look at Tuesday’s Champions League match at Anfield against Liverpool.
4
Thibaut Courtois, Álvaro Carreras, Eder Military, Dean Huijsen (Raul Asencio, min. 67), Federico Valverde, Jude Bellingham, Arda Güler (Dani Ceballos, Min. min. 78), Kylian Mbapé (Endrick, 78) and Franco Mass
0
Julen Agirrezabala, José Gayà, César Tárrega, Thierry Correia (Jesús Vázquez, min. 54), Copete, Baptiste Santamaría, Pepelu (Javi Guerra, min. 86), Diego López (Eray Cömert, min. 54), Luis Rioja (Hugo Duro, min. 54), Lucas Beltrán (André Almeida, min. 45) y Arnaut Danjuma.
Goals
1-0 min. 18: Kylian Mbappe. 2-0 min. 30: Kylian Mbappe. 3-0 min. 43: Jude Bellingham. 4-0 min. 81: Álva for Carreras
Referee Mateo Busquets Ferrer
yellow cards
Aurelien Tchouameni (min. 35), Javi Guerra (min. 87)
There are very few similarities between that match and this one in which it was devastated by Madrid, the tyrannical leader. The most obvious one is actually anecdotal: Vinicius once again missed a badly taken penalty that Mbappé gave him. But then the score was 0-0 and now they were 2-0 and downhill towards a rout that seemed like the 6-0 that Barça gave them a month and a half ago. Except for the penalty, everything else was different from last year. Valencia seems to have lost its footing, weaker than ever, stuck in the relegation zone without much heartbeat. Madrid has overcome its twilight traces of the previous year to reveal an organized and voracious machinery.
After tying the classic with four midfielders, Xabi Alonso returned to the 4-3-3 and with it, Mastantuono on the right. And the beginning was another angry volley. Valencia’s life at the Bernabéu was distressing. As soon as a ball fell to them, a swarm of white footballers would pounce on them: Mbappé, Vinicius, Bellingham, Arda, Mastantuono, Tchouameni… The loss worked very precisely as a pressure spring. It was a suffocating cage for Corberán’s team, which barely found a chance to breathe with the ball. Their night only had room for resistance, and a fleeting run by Danjuma that aborted Huijsen’s giant stride.
The pressure mechanisms are working and those intended to put Mbappé in a position to finish are also flowing more and more smoothly. Recovering the ball and looking for the Frenchman in space is an automatic reflex. From Güler, of course; also from Bellingham and Vinicius.
The Brazilian gave a very complete performance. He threatened with the dribble, always towards the baseline. But also with the pass. He alternated solitary raptures with combinatorial moments in which he found the careers of Mbappé and Bellingham. The movement opened more paths to the opposing goal than other nights of assault on closed fortresses like the one Valencia tried to build. Although they didn’t open it there, but from the corner. Militão headed, the ball hit Tárrega’s left arm and the VAR notified the referee. He gave that penalty, but he could have chosen two others on the same play. Mbappé and Bellingham fell under the weight of two long grabs. The Frenchman took charge of the shot in the same goal in which he failed against Barça on Sunday. He chose the same side and Agirrezabala saw the ball enter as it flew towards the other.
The game was an incessant downpour. In the first half alone, Madrid shot 13 times. Güler reached the baseline and found Mbappé alone on the other side, who also hit the volley. He was able to achieve the hat trick before the break, but gave up the second penalty to Vinicius. Eleven meters are not the distance for the Brazilian, who once again shot closer to the center than to the posts, a minor problem for Agirrezabala, who on the other hand could not reach a long shot from Bellingham. The Englishman, on fire, has scored in his last three games, against Juventus, Barça and Valencia.
That’s where the damage to Corberán’s team seemed to stop. Vinicius continued to punish on the left, but Madrid slowed down. There was even room for calculation. Xabi was removing Tchouameni, with a card; Güler, with his ankle touched; Huijsen, recently recovered; and Vinicius and Mbappé, who came out in the same window as if nothing happened last Sunday. This is how Endrick finally had his first minutes. There was also a first time from Carreras, a wonderful goal with a devastating left foot shot into the top corner. With the peace of the win they head to Anfield, where they suffered so much last year.
