BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Kylian Mbappé scored twice to lead Real Madrid to a 2-1 comeback win at Villarreal and move three points clear atop the Spanish league on Saturday.
Mbappé scored in the 17th minute to cancel out Juan Foyth’s opener for the hosts before the France striker put Madrid ahead for good six minutes later.
Long gone are the scoring troubles Mbappé endured in his first months at Madrid. His brace at fifth-placed Villarreal took Mbappe’s La Liga tally to 20 goals, only one fewer than Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski. He has 31 goals across all competitions since joining from Paris Saint-Germain last summer.
Barcelona is three points behind Madrid but has played two games less. Hansi Flick’s side visits third-placed Atletico Madrid, which is four points back, on Sunday. It also has a postponed game versus Osasuna still to be played.
Carlo Ancelotti left Vinícius Júnior and Antonio Rudiger on the bench until the final half hour – with Luka Modric going on shortly after – as the Madrid coach rotated his lineup three days after its grueling Champions League victory over Atletico Madrid that went to a penalty shootout.
“This was an important and difficult game against one of the best teams in the league,” Mbappé said. “After the game against Atletico and its added time it was very tough today but we knew we had to win. We showed character and that we wanted this win.”
Courtois stymies attack
Villarreal made it a pulsating game as it attacked in waves with Alex Baena and Nicolas Pepe helping create a series of chances. Thibaut Courtois made three good stops for Madrid to deny Pepe, Ayoze Pérez, and Pape Gueye in the first half.
But Villarreal paid at the other end where Mbappé ruthlessly exploited the holes in the Yellow Submarine’s defense.
“Mbappé didn’t participate much, but he was lethal,” Villarreal coach Marcelino Toral said.
A one-handed save by Courtois to deny Ayoze led to a corner kick that resulted in Villarreal’s eight-minute opener. Foyth swept home a ball that fell to him inside the six-yard box after it had ricocheted off players in a packed area.
Mbappé leveled after he teed up teammate Brahim Díaz for a shot that was saved by goalkeeper Diego Conde, and the ball fell to the France striker to rifle home.
Mbappé was on the scoreboard again when Villarreal’s defense lost track of him at the top of the area. He received a pass from Lucas Vázquez and had all the time he needed to place a shot into the right corner.
Halftime substitute Thierno Barry and Foyth both squandered scoring opportunities early in the second half before Madrid tightened its defense to see out the game.
Madrid complains about schedule
Ancelotti said that Real Madrid was upset that the game in Villarreal wasn't pushed back as it had requested to give its players more rest. As a result the club said it won’t agree to play another game without 72 hours of rest between matches.
Madrid’s game at Villarreal game kicked off at 6:30 p.m. local time (1730 GMT) on Saturday. Madrid had played a Champions League game against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday that started at 9:00 p.m. and lasted 120 minutes plus a penalty shootout.
“This is the last time we will play within 72 hours,” Ancelotti said.
García saves, Muriqi decides
Vedat Muriqi made up for an own goal and a missed penalty kick by converting a stoppage-time penalty to complete Mallorca's 2-1 comeback win over Espanyol.
Espanyol goalkeeper Joan García delivered another top performance by saving two penalties.
García stopped Muriqi’s second-half penalty and appeared to have secured a point for the visitors when he also denied Abdon Prats in injury time, but the referee ordered the penalty to be retaken after an Espanyol player had entered the area ahead of time.
Muriqi, whose early own goal was canceled out by teammate Takuma Asano, stepped back up to the spot and redeemed himself by finally beating García with his team’s third attempt from the spot.
Also, former Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso converted a late penalty to give Celta Vigo a 1-0 win at last-place Valladolid.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press
