Four days after winning a Champions League tie with 35.6 per cent of the ball, Real Madrid had twenty four shots against Rayo Vallecano. They also needed six saves from Thibaut Courtois to win 4-1.
Mbappé had a hand in three of the four
Kylian Mbappé converted a penalty on 14, right footed into the bottom right corner. He set up Álvaro Carreras three minutes later for the second, left footed from the centre of the box. He finished the match himself in the first minute of added time, right footed from the right of the box after Arda Güler released him on the break.
Jude Bellingham made it three on 35, right footed, put in by Vinícius Júnior. Five shots, three on target, two goals and an assist for Mbappé.
The suspended three came back
Eduardo Camavinga, Arda Güler and Bernardo Silva all missed the Inter match through suspension, which is why Trent Alexander-Arnold played in a two against them. Bernardo Silva started here, Camavinga came on at half time for Federico Valverde, and Güler came on at 72 and assisted the fourth eighteen minutes later.
José Mourinho had his midfield back and the shape of the team changed with it. Twenty four shots and eleven on target is not what the Bernabéu saw on Tuesday.
Rayo had eighteen shots
That is the part the scoreline hides. Sergio Camello pulled one back on 51, right footed from the right side of the box, and Rayo finished with eighteen attempts and seven on target against Madrid's twenty four and eleven.
Courtois made six saves. Rayo's goalkeeper made seven. Both boxes were busy, and 4-1 flatters the gap between the sides rather more than the ninety minutes did.
Where it leaves them
Five league matches, twelve points, fourteen scored and four conceded. The one defeat is the 1-0 at Real Betis a week and a half ago, and it is why Madrid are three points behind Barcelona rather than level.
Vinícius Júnior came off on 89 for Marc Cucurella, a left back, in a match Madrid were leading 3-1. That substitution says more about the week ahead than about this game.
