Real Madrid Dominates Rayo Vallecano 4-1
Real Madrid hit back in style. Stung by that shock defeat to Real Betis, they tore into Rayo Vallecano on Saturday night and walked away from the Bernabéu with a 4-1 win, four victories from five in La Liga, and a sense that when this team clicks, someone is going to be destroyed.
Kylian Mbappé led the charge. He opened the scoring from the penalty spot, calm and ruthless, then immediately turned provider. Minutes later, he slipped in Álvaro Carreras, who finished to cap a blistering start and leave Rayo scrambling.
Madrid were relentless in that first half. Waves of white shirts, angles everywhere, the ball fizzing through midfield. The third goal felt inevitable. It arrived through Jude Bellingham, who ghosted into the box to meet Vinícius Jr’s cut-back and steer it home. Three goals, three different scorers, one team in complete control.
Rayo needed something after the break and, briefly, they found it. Sergio Camello pounced to halve the deficit and inject a little tension into the night. Madrid’s tempo dipped, legs heavy after a draining Champions League outing in midweek. The intensity of the opening 45 minutes simply wasn’t there anymore.
Jose Mourinho saw it coming.
“We score a lot of goals, but we also miss a lot of chances,” the Madrid head coach said afterwards, as quoted by MadridXtra. “I told my staff that one day there will be a team that will pay for all these missed chances (laughs). There will be a match where we score seven goals.”
That ruthless streak he talks about flickered again in stoppage time. As the clock ticked down and Rayo tried to push up, Mbappé struck once more to kill off any remaining doubt and seal the points. The goal did more than just pad the scoreline: it stretched Madrid’s unbeaten home run against Rayo to 17 matches, a streak that dates back to 1996.
It also put Mbappé alongside elite company. His brace means he has matched Karim Benzema’s 2021-22 mark of six goals in the opening five league games, a record that underlines how quickly he has settled into life in Madrid.
Mourinho, though, had one eye on the cost of that electric start.
“We played for 45 minutes and then it was over,” he admitted. “I knew the players were tired and couldn’t play another half like that. Look at how Bellingham played the final ten minutes, with no energy.”
If Mbappé provided the cutting edge, another of Madrid’s summer headline signings offered something more subtle but just as important. Bernardo Silva is still new to this dressing room, but his fingerprints are already all over Madrid’s build-up play. He drops deep, knits moves together, calms the game when it threatens to break loose.
He knows exactly what Mourinho wants from him.
“We are happy with the three points, but now we need to get ready for the next game,” Silva said after the win. “What Jose Mourinho asks of me? To help in the build-up with the ball. He wants me to give the team more fluidity so we can progress the ball. I’m trying to adapt and to give the best version of myself.”
Four wins from five. Mbappé scoring for fun. Bernardo Silva growing in influence. Madrid still leaving chances on the pitch, and their coach convinced that one day, someone is going to suffer for it.
If this is them tired in September, what happens when the legs are fresh and that promised seven-goal performance finally arrives?
