Mbappe and Carreras Strike Twice as Real Madrid Seize Control

MADRID — Real Madrid responded to their 1-0 La Liga defeat at Real Betis on Sept. 4 by taking an early two-goal lead against Rayo Vallecano at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday. The four-minute sequence was driven by defender Alvaro Carreras and forward Kylian Mbappe, putting Los Blancos on course to overcome their first domestic setback of the season.

Rayo arrived after a 3-2 home victory against Racing Club a week earlier, while their starting XI included three changes: goalkeeper Emil Audero, midfielder Gnangoro Bouare, and winger Giorgi Tsitaishvili.

The opening goal came in the 14th minute after Rayo defender Florian Lejeune brought down Carreras inside the penalty area. Mbappe, who finished as La Liga’s top scorer last season, sent the resulting spot kick past Audero.

Three minutes later, Mbappe exchanged a short one-two pass with Carreras inside the box, allowing the returning left-back to finish past Audero in the 17th minute and double the host’s lead.

The attacking burst followed four alterations by the Real Madrid manager to the squad that defeated Inter Milan 2-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday. The changes included a full debut for £120 million winger Yan Diomande on the right flank, as well as returns for defender Antonio Rudiger, midfielder Bernardo Silva, and Carreras.

Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois started behind Denzel Dumfries, Ibrahima Konate, Rudiger, and Carreras. Bernardo Silva, Federico Valverde, and Jude Bellingham formed the midfield, with Diomande, Vinicius Jr., and Mbappe in the attacking front line.

Rayo’s starting lineup was completed by Andrei Ratiu, Lejeune, Pathe Ciss, Adria Pedrosa, Unai Lopez, Pedro Diaz, Jorge de Frutos, Sergio Camello, and Alvaro Garcia.

Camello entered the match as the division’s second-leading goalscorer, with four goals in five matches. Only Barcelona winger Raphinha had more, leading La Liga with six goals.

Real Madrid’s bench featured goalkeeper Andrii Lunin and outfield substitutes Raul Asencio, Dean Huijsen, Eduardo Camavinga, Endrick, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Aurelien Tchouameni, Arda Guler, Marc Cucurella, Carlos Espi, Brahim Diaz, and Thiago Pitarch. Rayo’s available substitutes were Adrian Molina, Dani Cardenas, Alemao, Mujaid Sadick, Ivan Balliu, Pelayo Fernandez, Marco de Las Sias, Marash Kumbulla, Oscar Valentin, Samu Becerra, and Marco Roman.

Real Madrid’s home record against their capital city neighbors had stood at 18 matches unbeaten across all competitions before Saturday, comprising 13 victories and five draws. Rayo’s last win at the Santiago Bernabeu came in January 1996, when Brazilian forward Guilherme Alves scored twice in a 2-1 La Liga victory.

Across all venues, Real Madrid had avoided defeat in seven consecutive meetings with Rayo, recording three wins and four draws. Their last two home encounters had both ended in 2-1 victories, while Rayo’s only win in the past 10 editions of the derby since April 2019 was a 3-2 home success in November 2022.

Four of the previous six matches between the clubs had finished as draws, including a 0-0 stalemate at the Bernabeu in November 2023. Former Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo leads the all-time derby scoring list with 12 goals during his tenure in Spain, followed by Karim Benzema with 11.

Rayo had still scored in six of their previous eight encounters with Real Madrid, including six total goals across their past five matchups. Their defensive record was less secure: they began Saturday without a clean sheet in four matches this season and with just one clean sheet across their last eight La Liga games overall.

Rayo had conceded 10 goals through the opening stretch, the second-highest total in La Liga behind Elche’s 12. They had also committed 58 fouls, fewer only than Espanyol and Sevilla with 67 each, Real Sociedad with 62, and Racing Club with 60. Rayo’s two red cards tied Getafe and Sevilla for the most in the division.

Saturday’s match kicked off at 20:00 BST (15:00 ET / 12:00 PT). In the United Kingdom, Disney Plus carried the broadcast live across digital devices, with monthly subscriptions ranging from £5.99 to £14.99 and annual packages between £99.90 and £149.90.