Real Madrid beat Rayo Vallecano 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu on Saturday to move level on points with Barcelona at the top of La Liga, and the game was settled by two Florian Lejeune errors three minutes apart.
The first came on 14 minutes, when Lejeune brought down Álvaro Carreras in the box and Kylian Mbappé sent Emil Audero the wrong way from the spot, a week after his stoppage-time penalty was saved at Betis. On 17, Lejeune misplaced a pass back towards his goalkeeper, Vinícius won the ball, Mbappé fed Carreras and the left-back finished with his left foot. Jude Bellingham made it 3-0 on 35, arriving unmarked to meet a Vinícius cutback, and Mbappé hit the post before half-time.
José Mourinho had promised fresh legs after three games in nine days, and he delivered four changes from the side that beat Inter. Yan Diomande made his first start since his summer move from Leipzig, Carreras came in for Marc Cucurella, Antonio Rüdiger for Dean Huijsen, and Bernardo Silva returned alongside Federico Valverde in midfield. Arda Güler and Brahim Díaz dropped to a bench that also held Eduardo Camavinga, back from suspension. The three players he did not touch were Bellingham, Vinícius and Mbappé.
The plan, he said afterwards, was never to play for ninety minutes.
"It was a 45-minute game, and then game over," Mourinho said. "I knew the team had no strength, physical or mental, and I knew that at the start of the second half we would not be able to keep playing the way we had. Jude Bellingham had no energy, but look at how he played the last ten minutes. Energy is not only physical, it is mental. I knew the game would be like this and the motivation was to start strong and finish it quickly."
The second half went the way he expected. Pedro Díaz hit the post from distance, and on 51 Sergio Camello collected a loose ball after Madrid gave possession away playing out from the back and finished under Thibaut Courtois. Courtois then saved twice from Giorgi Tsitaishvili, and the whistles that had followed the Inter win returned. Güler came on for Diomande on 72 and steadied the game, Audero kept out a Dumfries header, and in the first minute of stoppage time Mbappé ended a counter-attack with a low finish across the goalkeeper for his seventh goal in six games.
Vinícius, booed by the Bernabéu on Tuesday, had his name sung after the third goal and was applauded off when Cucurella replaced him on 89. "Physically he is better than ever," Mourinho said. "He is a millimetre from his top speed."
Rayo had started the evening as Beñat San José said they would, pressing high with a squad down to the bare bones. With Jorge de Frutos and Fran Pérez suspended after the three red cards against Racing, and Vallecas still closed, he brought Audero, Gnangoro Bouaré and Tsitaishvili into the side that won 3-2 in Leganés. Tsitaishvili forced Courtois into an early save before Lejeune gave the game away. Pathé Ciss was the only player booked, by referee Víctor García Verdura.
Earlier on Saturday, Racing Santander beat Alavés 2-1 at El Sardinero, their first defeat of the season. That leaves Madrid on twelve points from five, level with Barcelona and second on goal difference, with the leaders at Levante on Sunday. Madrid have now won all four home games this season. They go to Elche on Tuesday night, then to the Metropolitano for the derby next Sunday.
