Real Madrid 6-1 AS Monaco: Los Blancos banish sour taste of the weekend with emphatic victory
It has not been much of a happy new year for Real Madrid, but on the night when Kylian Mbappe’s old club Monaco visited the Bernabeu there was a resurgence, and it was the Frenchman who led the rout as Madrid put six past them.
A squad that has been much maligned this season, booed by their own crowd last weekend at this same ground, had a breather and turned on the magic again in midweek, reminding furious supporters of their talent, and of how special many a European night in this stadium have been.
Mbappe returned to scoring ways with an early first-half brace before Franco Mastantuono made it three in the second half. Vinicius Junior forced Monaco defender Thilo Kehrer into an own goal minutes later, before then putting away another to make it 5-0 with an hour played.
Jordan Teze managed a consolation late on, but there was time for one more from Los Blancos, as Jude Bellingham rounded goalkeeper Philipp Kohn to bring a fitting end to the lopsided tie.
Suddenly things are not looking so bad. Madrid are second in the Champions League table – although almost certain to go third after Bayern play on Wednesday – only a week after their victory over Levante was gilded by a Barcelona loss to Real Sociedad, narrowing the gap between first and second in La Liga to just one point.
Mbappe had much reason to smile. So too Vinicius, who created three goals and also got on the scoresheet after being singled out for boos and whistling at the Bernabeu on Sunday.
But this was also a moment for Alvaro Arbeloa, who has hardly endeared himself to fans after taking over from Xabi Alonso and then losing to a relegation-threatened side in the Spanish second division.
Not that Monaco put up much of a resistance. The metaphor of rolling over seems appropriate here. Five minutes into the game Mbappe had lashed in the opener with his characteristic accuracy, after Federico Valverde had combined with Mastantuono on the inside right to lay the ball off for the Frenchman.
Monaco had some nice moments and Ansu Fati could have done much better to keep his sliding shot on target from seven yards, after Caio Henrique’s square pass.
But the visitors failed to do enough and Arda Guler found Vinicius bolting down the left with a slide rule pass, the Brazilian then squaring into the box where Mbappe was arriving to tap in his second.
There were more chances for both sides but Teze could only hit the bar from 25 yards out and Thibaut Courtois was alert to deny Folarin Balogun. Vinicius then created again for Mastantuono to tuck into the bottom left corner. By the time the Brazilian got on the ball again and went on a mazy run, Monaco looked spent, and with Mbappe having drifted away from goal he elected to take it himself, crashing a shot into the roof of the net.
Dani Ceballos’ poor pass allowed a consolation for the visitors, but Bellingham ensured that the last word belonged to the Bernabeu.
