MADRID: Kylian Mbappe said he had bounced back from hitting rock bottom after helping Real Madrid thrash Sevilla 4-2 on Saturday to move second in La Liga above stuttering rivals Barcelona.

After Atletico Madrid beat Barca on Saturday to claim top spot at Christmas, Carlo Ancelotti’s side also took advantage with a comfortable home win which moved them to 40 points, a point behind the leaders and two clear of Barca.

Reak coach Ancelotti said ahead of Sevilla’s visit that Mbappe’s adaptation period had ended following his summer switch from PSG and the forward proved the coach right with a strong performance and his 14th goal of the season in all competitions.

Fede Valverde also netted a brilliant effort from range, with Rodrygo Goes and Bra­him Diaz on the scoresheet for the hosts too, the latter assisted by a clever Mbappe pass.

Isaac Romero and Dodi Lukebakio scored for Sevilla, although they were thoroughly outplayed on veteran defender Jesus Navas’ final game for the club.

“I think that we know each other better, my arrival changed a lot of things, and now, as the coach said, the adaptation is over and I feel very good in the team,” Mbappe told Real Madrid TV. “We can see on the pitch that I click better with my team-mates and now we’re all playing better.”

Mbappe, back after a brief absence with a thigh injury, scored for Real in midweek as they won the Inter­continental Cup.

It was welcome relief for the forward after missing two penalties in recent weeks against Liverpool and Athletic Bilbao, as well as suffering criticism for his form.

“I know I’ve got much more in my legs than I’m showing, but in the last games I’ve played better,” Mbappe added. “The Bilbao game was good for me, I hit the bottom, I missed a penalty and it was a moment to realise that I have to give everything for this shirt and show my personality.”

Ancelotti said self-criticism had helped Real overcome a challenging period and fuelled Mbappe’s integration into the team.

“I think [Mbappe] has been self-critical, he’s come out of a situation that could have been complicated for him,” Ance­lotti told reporters. “Yesterday I said his adaptation period was over, today he showed it, sometimes I’m not wrong.”

The coach said Real had found their footing after struggling at times in the first half of the season.

“We’re running a bit more, playing with more intensity, we’re doing things well again, as we have to do — they’ve been complicated months,” Ancelotti added.

Mbappe scored with a thunderbolt from outside the box in the 10th minute and before Sevilla could recover Valverde also pulled the trigger from long-range that gave Sevilla goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez no chance.

Rodrygo fired home the third in the 34th minute from a cross by Lucas Vazquez but Sevilla scored immediately after kick off when Romero headed in a cross from Juanlu Sanchez.

However, Brahim Diaz resto­red the home side’s three-goal cushion eight minutes after restart when he finished off a clever move after Mbappe and Vazquez combined to set him up.

Sevilla managed to score anot­her consolation when Peque Fernandez found Luke­bakio making a run and made an incisive pass for the Belgian midfielder to score at the near post.

The defeat left the visitors in 12th spot on 22 points.

The match also marked the final game of Navas’s career as the Sevilla winger heads into retirement.

The 39-year-old World Cup winner with Spain received a standing ovation from the Bernabeu crowd as well as a guard of honour from both teams before the match.

“I had never seen something like this in my life, in an opposing stadium. It felt like closing the circle,” Navas said. “In the last minutes I was looking at the ground, remembering all the moments lived and the joys.”

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2024