Vinicius Junior was back to his brilliant best and Kylian Mbappe bagged a brace as Real Madrid battered Monaco, 6-1, on Tuesday. Vinicius provided three assists, scored a wonderful goal and was a constant menace. Mbappe opened the scoring with two goals of hisown, while an unfortunate own goal from Thilo Kehrer and a smooth strike from Jude Bellingham rounded off a memorable night in Alvaro Arbeloa’s first Champions League game in charge.
Madrid may not have had the lion’s share of possession, but they were devastating on the break, and Mbappe broke the deadlock with a fine slotted finish from a Federico Valverde pass. The France captain added a second just short of the half-hour mark, this time linking up with Vinicius, whose curled ball fell to the feet of Mbappe for an easy finish.
Madrid put the game to bed early in the second half as Vinicius assisted the third with a quick turn and deft roll of the ball into Franco Mastantuono, who dutifully stroked his effort into the bottom corner. Kehrer’s own goal – off another Vinicius pass – made it four, and the Brazilian continued his fine evening of work to make it five with a powerful strike.
Madrid weren’t error-free as a silly giveaway in their own box rather gifted a goal to Jordan Teze, but Bellingham rounded off the scoring as he joined Vinicius in bouncing back from being booed by his own fans last time out.
GOAL rates Madrid’s players from the Bernabeu…
Goalkeeper & Defense
Thibaut Courtois (6/10):
Didn’t really have a save to make. Saw a shot hit the bar, and could do nothing about the goal.
Federico Valverde (8/10):
Held his position a little more with Guler dropping deep. Effective when he did attack, though, and grabbed two assists.
Raul Asencio (6/10):
Not his most involved appearance. Missed a couple of passes in 45 middling minutes.
Dean Huijsen (6/10):
Won headers, moved the ball, but could have cleared his lines in the run up to Monaco’s goal.
Eduardo Camavinga (7/10):
A solid shift at left-back, where he seems to be something of a forgotten man. Made an impressive block in the second half.
Midfield
Arda Guler (8/10):
Created three chances and grabbed an assist. His best performance in a while.
Aurelien Tchouameni (6/10):
Held down the centre of midfield, but was far less certain in defence.
Jude Bellingham (8/10):
Did a lot of dirty work, missed a good chance, but got himself involved in build-up play. Scored the sixth with a delightful bit of footwork.
Attack
Franco Mastantuono (7/10):
Did a lot of the running for the team, and was rewarded with a goal.
Kylian Mbappe (9/10):
Scored twice in the first half, and moved the ball much more effectively than in recent weeks. Might have actually pressed once or twice, too.
Vinicius Jr (10/10):
Pretty much unplayable. Scored one and assisted three to deliver the perfect response to his haters.
Subs & Manager
Dani Ceballos (7/10):
Brought on for midfield legs at half-time. Gave Madrid a little more control.
Gonzalo Garcia (6/10):
Relieved the tired Mastantuono – and didn’t have much of an impact.
Dani Carvajal (N/A):
No time to make an impact.
Fran Garcia (N/A):
No time to make an impact.
Dani Meso (N/A):
A nice run out for the academy kid.
Alvaro Arbeloa (9/10):
That’ll do! This was quite comfortably the best Madrid showing of the season, as Los Blancos had their Champions League mojo back. The (rather delayed) new manager bounce is real.
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