Kylian Mbappe scored twice, including a stunning solo effort, as Real Madrid defeated Sevilla 4-1 on Sunday to move into third place in La Liga.

Arda Guler, who was lucky to escape an early red card for an elbow, opened the scoring with a spectacular strike before Mbappe’s double and a powerful effort from Yan Diomande helped Jose Mourinho’s side leapfrog Real Betis.

Mbappe’s first goal was a moment of brilliance, featuring a roulette on the edge of Sevilla’s penalty area, while his second came from a chipped Panenka-style penalty.

Champions Barcelona sit six points clear of Real Madrid ahead of next weekend’s Clasico at Camp Nou following their thrashing of Betis on Saturday, with Atletico Madrid second, sandwiched between Spain’s two giants.

“We played a great game… we are a team and we work to improve, we’ve only been together for a very short time,” Mourinho told Real Madrid TV.

“It’s hard to have the calm that other coaches enjoy at other clubs, given the scale of Real Madrid, but we’re making the most of every minute we have.”

Mourinho deployed Diomande on the left in place of suspended Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior and brought Guler into the midfield pivot.

Vinicius’s red card for hair-pulling last weekend sparked anger in the Spanish capital over officiating in Spain.

Madrid fans at the Santiago Bernabeu chanted and held up banners against La Liga president Javier Tebas after he compared the club’s strategy of trying to discredit referees to the techniques of Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.

Los Blancos and their new coach Mourinho have complained bitterly about Spanish refereeing in recent weeks, and more broadly over the past two seasons, during which they have failed to win a major trophy.

On this occasion, however, it was Sevilla who had more to complain about regarding officiating as Madrid eased to victory.

A quiet opening was disrupted when Madrid midfielder Guler appeared to elbow Sevilla’s Peque, an incident that went unpunished midway through the first half.

“There’s a match that’s 11 against 11 where they deserve to win, without any doubt, but we were denied the chance to play another match,” said upset Sevilla coach Luis Garcia Plaza.

“We were denied the chance to play a match of 11 against 10. From there on I don’t want to talk about the match anymore. We should have been playing 11 against 10 from the 25th minute.”

The coach said “maybe” Guler was not dismissed so Madrid did “not arrive nine points behind” Barca at the Clasico next weekend.

Mourinho said he had not seen any replays of the incident which showed Guler had elbowed Peque.

Sevilla had resisted Madrid’s attacking pressure early on but were undone by a moment of magic from Guler himself after 30 minutes.

Jude Bellingham played the ball out to the flank where record signing Diomande received it and fed Guler on the edge of the box.

The Turkish playmaker lofted a superb strike across Sevilla goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos and into the top corner.

Mbappe’s Moment of Skill

Mbappe came close to adding a second with a lightning-quick burst down the pitch, but his low effort was saved.

The French superstar soon got his goal, one of the best of the season.

Bellingham backheeled the ball into Mbappe’s path and the forward produced a dazzling roulette turn into the area before showing more skill to rapidly sidestep the goalkeeper and roll home.

Sevilla complained that striker Robbie Ure was fouled in the build-up, to no avail.

Mbappe extended the lead from the penalty spot after he went down under a light touch from Andres Castrin in the area.

The forward, who hopes to be crowned the best player in the world at the Ballon d’Or ceremony later in October, dinked home his ninth league goal of the season.

Sevilla pulled one back with a neat strike from Manuel Bueno, but there was no fightback on the cards.

Ivorian winger Diomande thumped home from outside the box for his second goal since joining this summer from RB Leipzig, Madrid’s next opponents in the Champions League.

Earlier, Real Sociedad rose to fifth with a thumping 5-2 win at bottom side Malaga, Celta Vigo defeated Alaves 2-1 and Osasuna beat Racing Santander 2-0.

Source: AFP