Real Madrid produced another impressive performance, following on from their El Clasico victory last weekend, to sweep aside relegation-threatened Valencia 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu and move themselves seven points clear at the top of La Liga.
Prior to kick-off, Madridistas universally stood in adulation to applaud their hero, as Kylian Mbappé was presented with the 24/25 La Liga Golden Boot trophy, as well as the league’s Player of the Month Award for October. It would have been easy for the Frenchman to get swept up in the atmosphere and emotion of it all, but instead he produced yet another world-class performance, scoring two first-half goals to send his team on the path towards victory.
After a confident start by the visitors, Madrid soon began to find their rhythm, putting together some slick passing moves, with Valencian keeper Julen Agirrezabala called into action to make saves from both Jude Bellingham and Vinícius in the opening quarter of an hour. Largely unable to escape from their own half, Valencia found themselves under siege and it looked to be only a matter of time until the hosts broke the deadlock.
Indeed, huge penalty appeals in the 14th minute from the Real Madrid players and fans were answered after a VAR check deemed that César Tárrega had handled Franco Mastantuono’s corner delivery. Having missed from the spot against Barcelona last weekend, Mbappé made no mistake this time around, sending Agirrezabala the wrong way and confidently placing the ball into the bottom left corner.
Madrid doubled their lead just over 10 minutes later, a pinpoint Arda Güler cross from the left-side of the box finding Mbappe in space, and the Frenchman cushioned a tidy finish past Agirrezabala to double his and Real’s tally on the night.
5 minutes before the break, Madrid were gifted their second penalty of the evening, a clumsy challenge from Thierry Correia bringing down Álvaro Carreras in the box, leaving referee Mateo Busquets Ferrer with little choice but to point to the spot. Desperate to win back the hearts of Real Madrid fans after he was heavily criticised for his reaction to being substituted last week, Vinicius stepped up to take it but was denied by Agirrezabala, who did extremely well to react quickly and make another save from Güler’s rebounded effort.
However, Agirrezabala’s efforts proved to be futile, as Madrid were not to be denied their third goal of the night before half-time, Bellingham arrowing a fine effort from the edge of the box into the far corner of the Valencia net.
There was little inspiring attacking play of note in the second half, with Madrid happy to dominate possession and limit Valencia to the occasional counter-attack, which were largely dealt with easily by the home side, Thibaut Courtois only being truly called into action with a save from an André Almeida effort. That was until Carreras fired an unstoppable strike across the helpless Agirrezabala and into the top right corner eight minutes from time, the left-back scoring his first goal for Los Blancos since completing a €50 million move from Benfica in the summer transfer window to put the icing on a dominant Madrid performance.
Valencian substitute Javi Guerra produced an eventful cameo during the five minutes which he was on the pitch, first being booked for cynically pulling back Bellingham, before Courtois’ right post denied him what would have been a spectacular consolation goal from outside the area.
Madrid’s attention now turns to European action and a mouth-watering contest with Liverpool at Anfield in the Champions League on Tuesday night. Valencia, in contrast, remain in the relegation zone on goal difference and must reset before a league clash at home to Real Betis next weekend.
Match officials: Referee: Mateo Busquets Ferrer; Video Assistant Referee: Daniel Jesús Trujillo Suárez; Assistant Referee 1: Gonzalo García González; Assistant Referee 2: Adrián Díaz González; Fourth Official: Ekaitz García Arriola; Assistant VAR Official: Juan Luis Pulido Santana
Real Madrid Lineup: Courtois; Valverde, Militão, Huijsen (subbed for Asencio, 67’), Carreras; Tchouaméni (subbed for Camavinga, 46’), Bellingham, Güler (subbed for Ceballos, 46’); Mastantuono, Vinícius Jr (subbed for Rodrygo, 78’), Mbappé (subbed for Endrick, 78’) Valencia CF Lineup: Agirrezabala; Correia (subbed for Vázquez, 55’), Tárrega, Copete, Gayà; Rioja (subbed for Hugo Duro, 55’), Pepelu (subbed for Javi Guerra, 87’), Santamaría, López (subbed for Cömert, 55’); Beltrán (subbed for Almeida, 46’), Danjuma