Athletic Club vs Real Madrid: Kylian Mbappe-inspired Los Blancos make light work of Bilbao to keep pace with Barcelona

Kylian Mbappe continued his incredible scoring from this season to help Real Madrid best Athletic Club 3-0 and stay within touching distance of Barcelona.

Mbappe scored on either side of an Eduardo Camavinga strike to secure an important victory for Xabi Alonso amid rumours of unrest in the Los Blancos dressing room.

The three points from the victory helped Real Madrid stay one point adrift of Barcelona, who beat Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night.

With the remaining teams in the Spanish football pyramid playing Copa del Rey fixtures, Athletic Club vs Real Madrid was the second of two LALIGA games after Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid, scheduled for this midweek, as those four teams have been given a bye into the Round of 32 owing to their participation in the Supercopa de España next year. Barcelona are the defending champions.

Madrid wasted no time asserting control. After a cross-field pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kylian Mbappé surged forward, danced past two defenders and curled a low drive past the keeper to open the scoring in the 7th minute to silence the home crowd at San Mames. 

The hosts reorganised, trying to claw their way back into the game, but Los Blancos were in the mood, dominating proceedings. Consequently, they doubled the lead just before the break through a flowing build-up down the right, which broke Athletic’s defensive compactness.

Kylian Mbappe delivered the ball to Camavinga, who turned it in to make it 2–0 in the 42nd minute. 

After halftime, Athletic attempted to rally. They generated a couple of half-chances, testing Real’s defence. However, the visitors wrestled back control, and in the 59th minute, Mbappé struck again. He collected the ball at the edge of the box, cut inside and curled a left-footed shot into the top corner.

Athletic were knocked out. From then on, Real managed the game professionally, with Ernesto Valverde’s side struggling to get a goal on the board.