Madrid beat Valladolid but Mbappe fires Bernabeu blanks

AFP | Madrid

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com   

Spanish champions Real Madrid earned a 3-0 win over Real Valladolid in La Liga yesterday as Kylian Mbappe made his Santiago Bernabeu bow without finding the net.

The French striker played at home for the first time in a Madrid shirt but was largely frustrated by Valladolid’s defence.

Madrid midfielder Fede Valverde opened the scoring with a low deflected free-kick after 50 minutes and substitutes Brahim Diaz and debutant Endrick struck late on.

Madrid created little in the first half but did enough after the break to earn their first win of the season, following an opening draw at Real Mallorca.

Still lacking fluency in attack, Carlo Ancelotti’s side stayed two points behind rivals Barcelona, who beat Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

Ancelotti brought in Arda Guler for the injured Jude Bellingham, expected to miss a month with a calf problem.

Real Valladolid were the only team in the division to keep a clean sheet in their opening fixture and from the start they set out to frustrate the champions.

Darwin Machis had a deflected effort whistle narrowly wide but otherwise it was all hands to the pump in defence for the visitors.

Aurelien Tchouameni fired over from long range as Madrid dominated possession without threatening in the Spanish capital’s summer heat.