Real Valladolid 0-3 Real Madrid: Mbappe hat-trick moves leaders four points clear
Real Madrid continued their pursuit of the La Liga title after easing past Real Valladolid, with Kylian Mbappe shining once again.
Kylian Mbappe’s first Real Madrid hat-trick moved Los Blancos four points clear at the La Liga summit after they beat 10-man Real Valladolid 3-0.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side took advantage of Atletico Madrid’s slip-up earlier in the day after they were held at home by Villarreal, while Barcelona are in action against Valencia on Sunday.
Valladolid, however, started the brighter of the two sides at the Estadio Municipal Jose Zorrilla, with Thibaut Courtois denying David Torres with a big stop early on.
But Madrid hit the front in the 30th minute when Mbappe combined brilliantly with Jude Bellingham before curling the ball past Karl Hein and into the bottom right-hand corner.
Los Blancos and Mbappe then doubled their tally 12 minutes after the break, with the Frenchman producing a carbon copy of his opening goal after collecting Rodrygo’s pass.
Matters were made worse for bottom-club Valladolid late on when Mario Martin received his second yellow card for a poor challenge on Bellingham inside the penalty area.
The subsequent spot-kick was dispatched emphatically by Mbappe, whose stuttering run-up sent Hein the wrong way and concluded the scoring in the encounter.
Mbappe has now scored 22 goals in his first 32 games of the season in all competitions for Madrid, something only Cristiano Ronaldo (five times) and Karim Benzema (four times) have managed since the 2013-14 campaign.
Data Debrief: Mbappe continues to silence his critics
Mbappe had endured a difficult start to life at the Bernabeu, with many suggesting he was struggling to adapt to the Spanish capital. However, he has since put those worries to bed.
Since the start of December 2024, only Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak (14) has scored more goals than Mbappe (13) in all competitions among players from Europe’s top five leagues.
The Frenchman netted his maiden treble for Madrid in just his 19th La Liga match for them. In the 21st century in the competition, only Ruud van Nistelrooy (two games), Gareth Bale (nine games), and Emmanuel Adebayor (14th game) have done so quickly as a Los Blancos player (also 19 for Ronaldo Nazario).
Of the 22 goals Mbappe has scored for Madrid in all competitions, eight of them have come courtesy of four assists from Bellingham and four from Rodrygo, more than any other of his team-mates (three from Vinicius Junior).