Carried by its new Galactics, Mbappé, Vinicius, Bellingham and Rodrygo, all decisive, Real Madrid, reigning European champion, corrected Salzburg (5-1) on Wednesday during the seventh day of the Champions League and placed back in the race for the round of 16.
Without straining his talent, the King of Europe, in bad shape after a third defeat against Liverpool (2-0) at the end of November, jumped six places in the ranking of this new C1 format by climbing to 16th place (12 points), and will play their qualification next week at Roudourou, in Guingamp, against Brest (12th, 13 points) on the last day of the league phase.
Despite several absences, including those of Eduardo Camavinga, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Lucas Vazquez (suspended), the Spanish giant in 15 Champions Leagues left no chance for the Austrians, 34th with six defeats in seven matches and in difficulty in their own championship.
Vinicius Junior celebrates his second goal, Real’s fifth, on Wednesday against Salzburg in the Champions League at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid. / JAVIER SORIANO / AFP
With the support of several thousand supporters, present in large numbers but not very noisy in the visitors’ stand at the Santiago Bernabéu, Salzburg began the match without complexes by trying to put pressure on the Madrid goal, but logically lost to the Merengue armada and its quartet of stars: Kylian Mbappé, Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo.
Irresistible quartet
Often in the shadow of his teammates this season, Rodrygo showed the way by scoring a double in the space of ten minutes (24th, 35th) while Real struggled to bring danger to the opposing goal.
-The Brazilian winger, found on his right wing by his friend Vinicius, opened the scoring on the Merengues’ first dangerous action and then scored a nice double on the other side of the field with a shot into the side net opposed to the end of a sublime one-two with Bellingham.
Salzburg goalkeeper Janis Blaswich is beaten by Rodrygo’s shot, which scores Real’s second goal in Wednesday’s Champions League at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid. / Pierre-Philippe MARCOU / AFP
Rather discreet, unlike his last outings, Mbappé went for his 19th goal of the season in all competitions, the fifth in his last four matches, by scraping the ball into the feet of German goalkeeper Janis Blaswich (48th) before being replaced by the Moroccan international Brahim Diaz (70th) to a nice ovation.
After his two attacking friends, Vinicius Junior took advantage of the generosity of the Austrian defense to participate in the party and widen the gap further with a classy double (55th, 77th).
Danish midfielder Mads Bidstrup saved the honor at the very end of the game with a volley under the bar (85th).
Related News :