Manager dropped both Vinicius and Alexander-Arnold but Madrid struggled to impress
Real Madrid made it two wins out of two at the start of the La Liga season with a 3-0 win at Real Oviedo on Sunday.
Kylian Mbappe scored twice before Vinicius Junior added a third in stoppage time.
The scoreline flattered Madrid as they struggled to impress and generally looked uninspired for most of the game.
The big team news before the match was manager Xabi Alonso making the call to drop both Vinicius Junior and Alexander-Arnold. Vinicius had been especially poor against Osasuna last week and speculation has grown over his future at the club.
But against Oviedo his replacement Rodrygo hardly performed any better and might in fact have ironically made a case for his Brazilian teammate.
Mbappe opened the scoring in the 37th minute when he finished low past goalkeeper Leo Roman from an Arda Guler pass, after Aurelien Tchouameni had done a good job of winning the ball in midfield.
The scoreline remained at 1-0 for most of the game, the newly promoted Oviedo indeed coming very close to an equaliser through a Kwasi Sibo effort that hit the post.
The night’s hero Mbappe put the match beyond reach seven minutes from time, finishing neatly from a Vinicius pass, before the Brazilian himself turned scorer in stoppage time.
