Real Madrid hosted Rayo Vallecano at the Santiago Bernabéu on the 22nd day of La Liga. From the tenth minute of play, Jude Bellingham had to give way to Brahim Diaz, due to a breakdown.
Moments later, Real Madrid opened the scoring thanks to Vinícius Júnior. The Brazilian international came inside to unleash a curling shot from the right. A splendid gesture which ended its course in the opposite corner of Augusto Batalla (1-0, 15th). His first league goal in four months. Apart from this action, Real Madrid did not show much during this first half. Álvaro Arbeloa’s men even returned to the locker room under the whistles.
In the second half, Rayo Vallecano equalized in the first minutes. Jorge de Frutos beat Aurélien Tchouaméni to score from the left, at close range (1-1, 49th). The Bernabéu redoubled its fury. The club from the Vallecas district even had the opportunity to drive home the point shortly after the hour mark. Andrei Rațiu found himself alone against Thibaut Courtois, but the Belgian goalkeeper won their duel (63rd).
Bernabéu rumbles, Mbappé in savior mode
Very discreet since the start of the meeting,
Kylian Mbappé was very close to scoring his 22nd goal of the season in La Liga. After eliminating Augusto Batalla, the former Paris Saint-Germain player saw his shot crash onto the crossbar (68th). While Rayo Vallecano seemed to have a good card to play at the end of the match, Pathé Ciss was excluded for a terrible sole on Daniel Ceballos (80th). Despite their numerical superiority and nine minutes of stoppage time given by the referee, the Madrilenians struggled to regain the advantage. However, in the final moments of the match, Kylian Mbappé delivered his team by converting a penalty (2-1, 90th + 10).
Following this narrow victory (2-1), Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde and his teammates return to within one point of the Barcelona leader in the standings. Next week, they will take to the Valencia pitch. Rayo Vallecano is in sixteenth place, on the outskirts of the red zone.
