Kylian Mbappé managed to emerge from a difficult week by scoring a penalty that helped Real Madrid secure a 3-0 victory over Racing Santander on Sunday. Earlier, the French forward nearly won the Ballon d'Or over Harry Kane of Bayern Munich on Monday, and was subsequently forced to apologize following a social media storm triggered by a video in which he joked about former Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
Due to the fallout from this incident, the Real Madrid match, along with other Spanish games over the weekend, was not broadcast on state television in China. Jude Bellingham and Jan Diodmand were also effective, allowing Real Madrid to maintain third place in the league within three points of leaders Barcelona, who crushed Alaves 6-1 on Saturday.
José Mourinho's team won six consecutive matches across all competitions and trails their city rivals Atlético Madrid by only one point; Atlético beat Levante 2-0. Mourinho told reporters: 'We were very strong in the first half, we came out to play well.' He added that the team is developing and playing decently, but believes they could have scored more goals by taking available chances.
Mbappé earned a soft penalty after falling under slight pressure from Matteo Prati and confidently converted it, putting Madrid ahead at the San Dinero stadium in the 11th minute. This was the young player's twelfth goal in the league this season, and he was only behind Rafinha of Barcelona with fifteen goals in the scoring table.
'Madrid' controlled the game, and a precise pass from Arda Güler allowed Bellingham to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper, after which the Englishman shot past the keeper and scored, reaching his 50th goal since joining Real Madrid in 2023. Bellingham told Real Madrid TV: 'Reaching 50 goals with Real Madrid is something special.' He also noted: 'We played very well. It was very important to win after the victory at Camp Nou (against Barça last weekend), so we are very happy.'
Güler missed a good chance for the third goal after Mbappé set him up, before the record transfer Diodmand scored from outside the penalty area. The home side started the second half well, putting pressure on Madrid, which caused dissatisfaction for Mourinho, who shouted at his players. However, Madrid regained control and created several more chances, including Mbappé's shot hitting the post and a Bellingham attempt saved by Racing's goalkeeper Hulen Agirresabal.
'Racing' earned a penalty after Aurelien Tchouameni of Madrid touched the ball in the box, but this moment was disallowed after a VAR check. During added time, Bellingham's second goal was annulled due to an offside he had before scoring, and Endrick shot wide from distance.
The hosts, Racing, who are in 16th place and returned to La Liga for the first time in 14 seasons, suffered their first home defeat this campaign. Earlier, Sevilla, in sixth place, lost to Getafe 3-1, allowing Getafe to move into the middle of the table.
Racing's coach José Alberto told DAZN: 'I am annoyed (by the penalty awarded to Madrid). Obviously, we faced a great Madrid, which put a lot of pressure on us during the first half and was much better than us, but everything depended on the conditions, and the first goal was a penalty.'
Valencia, in 19th place, beat Elche 1-0 thanks to a well-executed goal by Omar Sadik, approaching the safety zone after a poor start to the season. In other matches, Athletic Bilbao, in seventh place, defeated fifth-placed Real Sociedad 2-1 in an exciting Basque derby at San Mamés stadium. Iñaki Williams opened the scoring early for Athletic, and Luka Sucic equalized after a shot from the penalty area. Alex Berenger controversially restored Athletic's lead shortly before halftime with a penalty, after John Aramburu was deemed to have fouled Nico Williams, although Williams seemed to have won the ball. Aramburu complained to DAZN: 'I think it's incredible that such a penalty is awarded when I touched the ball, even Nico said so.'
The goalkeeper for Los Leones, the Spanish World Cup winner Unai Simon, made several brilliant saves, securing three points for his team.
