Real Madrid 1-0 Sevilla: Vinicius 15
Vinicius Junior’s early goal was enough to secure all three points for Real Madrid in a tough away game against Sevilla. The visitors arrived in Seville carrying their off-the-pitch baggage, pressure building around everybody at the club, from Kylian Mbappe to president Florentino Perez, who called for elections last week in a bid to fight off the criticism.
There is at least some positivity on the pitch now as they made it consecutive league wins since losing the title to rivals Barcelona with a defeat in the clásico at Camp Nou.
Mbappe returned to the starting line-up for the first time in nearly a month and was immediately involved in the decisive moment after just 15 minutes. Sevilla had started brightly and looked the sharper side in the opening exchanges. Oso forced Thibaut Courtois into an early save before creating another dangerous opening down the left, but the hosts were soon punished for failing to convert their early pressure.
A forward ball from Brahim Diaz was brought down by Mbappe, and after the Frenchman was challenged, the loose ball fell kindly for Vinicius, who passed into the bottom corner with quarter of an hour played.
Madrid could have added a second before the interval. Mbappe drifted inside and curled narrowly wide, before Aurelien Tchouameni failed to capitalise after a clever flick from the France captain opened space in the area.
The game was briefly halted midway through the first half when the referee spoke with both captains after an altercation between Vinicius and the home fans.
Sevilla still threatened after the restart, substitute Alexis Sanchez seeing an opportunity snuffed out by Antonio Rudiger. At the other end, Mbappe was denied by a recovery challenge from Kike Salas when through on goal. He later blazed over from close range after being picked out by Vinicius, before rounding goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos to score only for the offside flag to go up.
Madrid were unlucky not to double their lead when Franco Mastantuono hit the post with a curling effort, and they were almost made to regret it when Sevilla, who had offered little as the game wore on, nearly levelled through Salas, but Courtois had it covered.
