Real Madrid closed the gap on La Liga leaders Barcelona to four points with a dominant win over Leganes.
Jude Bellingham scored his second league goal in as many games in a comfortable victory ahead of their Champions League match with Liverpool on Wednesday night.
Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring with his seventh league goal of the season on the stroke of half-time after Vinicius Junior rifled a low ball across the box.
Federico Valverde doubled the lead in the second half with a powerful strike from a free-kick, beating goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic at his near post.
Bellingham netted in the 85th minute after he reacted first to nod in Brahim Diaz’s deflected effort off the crossbar.
Frenchman Mbappe thought he had opened the scoring earlier with a powerful finish from Vinicius Junior’s pass, but the offside flag was quickly raised.
Teenager Arda Guler was handed a rare start and he forced Dmitrovic into a fine save from a tight angle midway through the first half.
Mbappe missed a huge opportunity to net his second of the night in the 83rd minute as his rushed strike could only sting the palms of the keeper.
Leganes, who are yet to register a victory over Real, were unable to threaten the returning Thibaut Courtois’ goal and did not manage a shot on target.
Youngster Raul Asencio started in the heart of the defence after Eder Militao injured his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) with Valverde playing 90 minutes at right-back as manager Carlo Ancelotti looked to combat Real’s injury woes.
Ancelotti’s side jumped above rivals Atletico Madrid into second and sit four points behind Barcelona having played a game less.
Real’s ‘new golden age’, says club president Perez
Real are in a “new golden age” according to club president Florentino Perez, who added their “legacy has flourished” in recent years.
The Spanish giants are regularly a dominant force both domestically and in Europe and, in the past decade, have won the Champions League six times and La Liga four.
They have also often had some of the world’s best players for them and this summer brought in France star Mbappe, who had scored 256 goals in 308 games at PSG before leaving the French side earlier this year.
“We are experiencing a new golden age having won 56 trophies in the last 14 seasons: 29 trophies in football and 27 in basketball,” Perez said at Real Madrid’s general assembly on Sunday.
“The legacy of Real Madrid has flourished in recent years.”
Despite their recent success, Real have not had the best of starts to the current season.
They won both La Liga and the Champions League last season but are currently second to Barcelona in the former and 18th in the league phase of the latter.
The format of the Champions League was changed for this season, and Perez believes the competition has been damaged as a result.
“The new Champions League format has shown, as we predicted, that it is not the solution to the problems,” he added.
“Uefa has increased the number of matches, but each match counts for much less than before. And the competition will only stir fans’ passion at the end of the season and not at the beginning, as one would expect.”
Perez has long been committed to a European Super League (ESL) and Real were one of 12 European clubs to sign up to the ESL in April 2021 but it collapsed after a fan backlash.
Last year, the European Court of Justice ruled that Uefa and Fifa banning clubs from joining the ESL was unlawful.
On Sunday, Perez reiterated his belief in the competition, saying: “We have a unique opportunity to develop a new model of governance and competition that prioritises both the wellbeing of the players and the passion and excitement of the fans.
“There is a real opportunity to change course, to revitalise football and restore it to grandeur. And the sooner we do it, the better.”
