Kylian Mbappe struck twice against his former side Monaco as Real Madrid romped to an emphatic 6-1 Champions League victory on Tuesday to ease tensions around the club.
Vinicius Junior, who was jeered by his own fans during a home win over Levante last weekend, also shone and scored a brilliant goal as Madrid strengthened their bid to claim a top eight finish in the league phase.
New coach Alvaro Arbeloa secured a second win at the helm after replacing Xabi Alonso last week, with his team producing a dazzling attacking display to help fans forget recent disappointments.
Jude Bellingham and Franco Mastantuono were also on target for Los Blancos and Thilo Kehrer bundled a Vinicius cross into his own net as Madrid delivered perhaps their best performance of the season.
“The players won this game, with their effort and their quality,” Arbeloa told Movistar.
“I loved their attitude and their quality, this mentality and ambition is what all Madrid fans want to see.”
Mbappe has been in superb form even as Madrid have struggled and stretched his lead at the top of the European goalscoring charts with his 10th and 11th goals to give his team a commanding lead.
After missing the Copa del Rey humiliation by Albacete in Arbeloa’s disastrous first game, Mbappe has netted in the next two matches.
It took just five minutes for the French superstar to open the scoring, slotting home from just inside the area after Fede Valverde knocked on Mastantuono’s cut-back.
After celebrating with his team-mates Mbappe apologised to the visiting supporters, having first emerged into the world’s spotlight while at Monaco.
Ansu Fati, on loan at Monaco from Madrid’s rivals Barcelona, came close before Arbeloa’s side struck again.
They launched a devastating counter-attack, with Eduardo Camavinga’s clever flick to Arda Guler sparking the move. Guler found Vinicius, who span the ball across for Mbappe, just onside, to tuck home.
Despite being shredded defensively, Monaco offered some attacking threat and Jordan Teze hit the crossbar with a well-guided long range effort.
Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois also made a couple of solid saves before the break, with Madrid’s third coming shortly after the action resumed.
Vinicius, heavily involved, unselfishly teed up former River Plate playmaker Mastantuono, who swept home.
– ‘This is my Vinicius’ –
After 55 minutes Madrid had four, with Kehrer turning Vinicius’s raking low cross into his own net as Monaco crumbled.
Arbeloa has only had words of praise for Vinicius since taking over and the forward rewarded his coach with a hug after ramming in the fifth.
Vinicius fired into the top corner past helpless goalkeeper Philipp Kohn for only his second goal in his last 19 matches for the club.
There were a few boos for him at the start but they dried up fast as Vinicius reminded Madrid’s fans how good he can be.
“This is my Vinicius,” said Tchouameni. “When we play well, the people that come here are very happy. Today was a very good night here in the Bernabeu.”
Teze pulled one back for Monaco after a mistake by Dani Ceballos, before Madrid struck again to round off the rout.
Bellingham rounded the goalkeeper to net in the 80th minute after Dean Huijsen cleverly dummied Valverde’s pass.
Tottenham handed manager Thomas Frank some respite as they dominated 10-man Borussia Dortmund in a 2-0 win that lifted Spurs into fourth in the Champions League table.
Frank’s position appeared untenable after a fan revolt following Saturday’s 2-1 home loss to Premier League strugglers West Ham.
However, the Dane was handed a stay of execution and his players delivered a first home win since December 9 to quell speculation on his future for a few days at least.
Cristian Romero and Dominic Solanke struck in the first half either side of Daniel Svensson’s red card.
Victory at Eintracht Frankfurt in next week’s final round of league phase fixtures should guarantee Spurs a top-eight finish and a place in the last 16.
Dortmund, by contrast, look destined to have to qualify for the last 16 via the play-off round.
Frank has only overseen two home wins in the Premier League as Tottenham have nose dived to 14th in the table despite a promising start under the former Brentford boss.
The Champions League has been a different story with four wins from four in north London.
Hampered by injuries and suspensions, Frank made five changes after the dismal defeat against the Hammers and was rewarded with a much-improved display.
Dortmund struggled all night to contain the threat of Wilson Odobert and Pedro Porro down the right with the former assisting on both goals.
The first came from a corner as Odobert drilled the ball back into the danger zone and Romero turned in from close range.
A poor start from the German giants was compounded when VAR intervened to instruct that Svensson’s misjudged challenge on Odobert be upgraded from a yellow to a red card on 26 minutes.
Solanke’s injury-ravaged season has played a big part in his side’s struggles.
The England international started for the first time under Frank and scored his first goal of the campaign despite not knowing much about it as Odobert’s cross rebounded in off his legs.
Dortmund had lost just once in 12 games since they were last in England — a 4-1 defeat to Manchester City in November.
Coach Nico Kovac showed his frustration at his side’s first-half showing with a double change at the break and the 2024 finalists at least stopped the bleeding in the second period.
Gregor Kobel saved from Xavi Simons and Randal Kolo Muani to keep the score down.
Tottenham had already done enough to quell the fury among their fan base and give Frank another chance to prove his worth
AFP
