Madrid's Dominance Restored: Mbappé Shines in 4-1 Victory

Madrid answered their midweek stumble with a snarl.

Four days after that jarring defeat to Real Betis, they tore into Rayo Vallecano at the Bernabéu on Saturday night, running out 4-1 winners and restoring a sense of order to their La Liga campaign. That makes it four victories from five league outings, and the response had the ruthless edge Jose Mourinho has been demanding.

Mbappé leads the charge

Kylian Mbappé set the tone early. When Madrid earned a first-half penalty, there was no debate, no delay. Mbappé stepped up, buried it, and the tension that had lingered since the Betis loss evaporated.

Rayo barely had time to reset before the France captain struck again, this time as creator. He slipped in Álvaro Carreras minutes later, and the full-back did the rest to double the advantage and send Madrid into full control.

The third was pure Bernabéu theatre. Vinícius Jr burst down the flank and cut the ball back with trademark precision. Jude Bellingham arrived in the box and swept it home, a simple finish at the end of a move that sliced Rayo open and underlined the gulf in quality.

At 3-0, it looked like a training exercise. It wasn’t.

Fatigue bites, Rayo respond

The second half told a different story. Madrid’s legs, heavy from a congested schedule and midweek Champions League exertions, began to drag. Rayo sensed it and pushed higher.

Sergio Camello pulled one back after the break, halving the deficit and briefly injecting jeopardy into a game that had seemed done before half-time. The goal exposed exactly what Mourinho had feared: a side running on fumes.

Madrid sagged, the intensity dropped, and the crisp combinations of the first 45 minutes gave way to survival instincts. Bellingham, so influential early on, looked spent in the closing stages. Mourinho did not hide it.

“We score a lot of goals, but we also miss a lot of chances. I told my staff that one day there will be a team that will pay for all these missed chances (laughs),” he said afterwards, as quoted by MadridXtra. “There will be a match where we score seven goals. We played for 45 minutes and then it was over. I knew the players were tired and couldn't play another half like that. Look at how Bellingham played the final ten minutes, with no energy.”

The coach’s assessment matched what everyone in the stadium could see. Madrid had blitzed Rayo, then hung on.

Mbappé equals Benzema, history rolls on

Just when Rayo dared to believe in a late twist, Mbappé shut the door. Deep into stoppage time, he struck again to make it 4-1 and kill off any remaining doubt.

That goal did more than pad the scoreline. It took him to six goals in Madrid’s first five league games, matching Karim Benzema’s 2021-22 start and underlining how quickly he has assumed the role of reference point in attack.

The result also extended an extraordinary run: Madrid are now 17 home games unbeaten against Rayo in La Liga, a streak stretching all the way back to 1996. Different eras, different managers, same outcome.

Bernardo Silva finds his place

While Mbappé grabbed the headlines, another of Madrid’s marquee arrivals quietly tightened his grip on the team’s rhythm.

Bernardo Silva, signed this summer to bring craft and control, is beginning to look exactly like the metronome Mourinho wanted. He dropped deep to help in the build-up, dictated tempo, and kept Madrid’s passing structure intact even as the physical level dipped.

After the win, the Portuguese midfielder laid out his brief in simple terms.

“We are happy with the three points, but now we need to get ready for the next game. What Jose Mourinho asks of me? To help in the build-up with the ball. He wants me to give the team more fluidity so we can progress the ball. I'm trying to adapt and to give the best version of myself,” he said.

It is a clear mandate: make Madrid flow.

On a night when tired legs threatened to drag them back into trouble, that calm on the ball, paired with Mbappé’s cutting edge, was enough. The performance wasn’t perfect. The scoreline came close.

And with Mourinho openly predicting a seven-goal explosion somewhere down the line, the question now is simple: who will be the first to pay for all those missed chances?