Mbappé scores twice and sets up another as Real Madrid beat Rayo Vallecano 4-1

Real Madrid needed 17 minutes to put this one to bed. Kylian Mbappé converted a penalty, then teed up Álvaro Carreras for a second, and by half-time Jude Bellingham had made it three. Rayo Vallecano pulled one back through Sergio Camello early in the second half, but Mbappé's stoppage-time strike restored the three-goal cushion and closed out a 4-1 win at the Bernabéu.

Mbappé sent goalkeeper Emil Audero the wrong way from the spot in the 14th minute after Carreras was fouled in the box, then turned provider three minutes later, laying the ball off for Carreras to finish from close range. It was the first time a Real Madrid player had a goal and an assist inside the opening 17 minutes of a LaLiga game at the Bernabéu since James Rodríguez in January 2016. Bellingham added a third before the break to put the game out of reach early.

Camello replies, Mbappé has the last word

Rayo came out for the second half with more purpose, and Camello beat Thibaut Courtois in the 51st minute to make it 3-1 and give the away end something to shout about. Real Madrid never looked troubled by it — they kept the ball, kept creating chances, and Mbappé rounded off his night with a second goal in first-half stoppage time added on at the other end of the match, the fourth of the evening, to make it 4-1 and put the result beyond any doubt.

Score by half

Match stats

Line-ups

Real Madrid lined up with Courtois in goal behind Dumfries, Konaté, Rüdiger and Carreras, with Valverde and Bernardo Silva screening a front four of Diomande, Bellingham, Vinícius Júnior and Mbappé. Yan Diomande, one of the club's summer signings, made his first start for the club. Rayo Vallecano set up in a 4-2-3-1 with Audero in goal, Ratiu, Lejeune, Ciss and Pedrosa across the back, Gnangoro and Unai López holding midfield, and Tsitaishvili, Pedro Díaz and Álvaro García supporting Camello up top.

Real Madrid's form holds after the Betis stumble

This was Real Madrid's second win in a row since the one blemish on their season so far, a 1-0 defeat at Real Betis on matchday 4 that snapped an opening run of three straight victories. Before that they had beaten Espanyol 2-1 away, thrashed Real Sociedad 4-1 and put four past Málaga without reply, and they returned to winning form in midweek with a 2-1 Champions League win over Inter Milan. Four wins and a single loss from their opening five league matches is a run few sides in Spain can match, and Mbappé's involvement in every phase of this one — penalty, assist, late finish — is exactly the kind of form Madrid will want carrying into the run of fixtures ahead.

Where it leaves the table

Real Madrid went into the round third on 9 points from four matches, three wins and the Betis defeat. This win takes them to 12, and with second-placed Alavés beaten by Racing Santander earlier the same day and stuck on 10, Madrid's 4-1 pushes them provisionally above the Basque side and into the position directly behind leaders Barcelona, who were unbeaten on 12 points and still to play their own matchday-5 fixture. Rayo Vallecano, who had taken four points from their first four games, stay in the bottom half of the table on the same tally after this defeat — their first-half collapse the difference between a competitive afternoon and a comfortable one for the home side.