Vinicius Junior scored twice, while Kylian Mbappé provided an assist and a goal as Real Madrid beat Villarreal 3-1 at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu to move top of ghe LaLiga on Saturday night.
Madrid top the table on 21 points from eight matches, while title rival Barcelona move the second position with 19 points.
Villarreal remain third with 16 points.
However, Barcelona who travel to the Estadio R. Sanchez Pizjuan on Sunday afternoon could top the LaLiga again if they beat Sevilla.
Real Madrid bounced back from their humiliating thrashing by neighbours Atletico Madrid last weekend.
After a frustrating first half which saw the Real players whistled off the pitch at the break, it took Vinicius just 90 seconds to break the deadlock at the start of the second period.
The Brazilian forward collected a flick-on from Kylian Mbappe, cut inside from the left flank and hit a shot that took a significant deflection off Santi Comesana and flew past Villarreal goalkeeper Arnau Tenas at the near post.
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Vinicius was Real’s main threat and in the 69th minute he squeezed a penalty under the dive of Tenas after being bundled over in the box by Rafa Marin.
But Villarreal posed a threat on the break all evening and, seconds after England midfielder Jude Bellingham – who started on the bench – was denied one on one by Tenas, Georgia striker Georges Mikautadze halved the deficit with a vicious strike past Thibaut Courtois into the bottom corner.
Villareal full-back Santiago Mourino was shown a second yellow card for pulling back Vinicius, and three minutes later Mbappe made the victory safe for Real by converting Brahim Diaz’s selfless cut-back.
The sight of Mbappe limping off the pitch moments later with what appeared to be a foot injury took a little shine off the win.
The Real Madrid forward was recently received the LaLiga player of the Month trophy for September added to
five goals scored last month before existing the game.
Mbappé found the net in all four of September’s LaLiga matches: against Real Sociedad, Espanyol, Levante (scoring twice) and Atlético. He also provided an assist for Arda Güler against Real Sociedad.
