5 Things we learned from Real Madrid’s emphatic win over Rayo Vallecano

1. That’s just the response Mourinho would have wanted after the defeat to Real Betis. With Barcelona absolutely flying at the minute it was imperative that Madrid didn’t drop any more points tonight and they made sure of by sweeping aside Vallecano tonight, Mourinho’s side started well and in the 12th minute were awarded a penalty after Carreras was taken out by Lejune giving the referee no choice but to point to the spot. Kylian Mbappe stepped up and unlike against Betis slotted the penalty away to put Madrid 1-0 up, it took just two minutes for Mourinho’s side to double the lead after a poor punch from Audero landed to Bernardo Silva who fed the ball to Carreras who’s one-two with Mbappe was brilliant before the Spaniard fired past Audero to make it 2-0 in just 17 minutes. Madrid weren’t finished there in the first half and in the 35th minute made it 3-0 as Vinicius Junior sped down the left-wing before cutting the ball back to Jude Bellingham in the box who made no mistake with the finish all but confirming the win for Real Madrid, Vallecano started the second half with real energy and hit the post just a minute after the restart through Pedro Diaz from outside the box. By the 50th minute they did get one back as Rudiger’s pass into midfield wasn’t anticipated by Vinicius Junior with Unai Lopez getting a toe on the ball which fell to Sergio Camello who poked the ball past Courtois to make it 3-1, as the second half went Vallecano had few half-chances to try and make the game interesting but it was Madrid who would have the final say in injury time as Arda Guler played the ball into Mbappe in the right of the box with Frenchman firing past Audero with a pretty outrageous finish to wrap up the game for his side. They still look shaky at the back but there’s no denying just how electric Madrid look going forward this season, whether it’s enough to stop Barca we’ll have to wait and see.

2. Are we set for an all-timer La Liga title race? To be honest I think a lot of it depends on Barcelona as they simply look unstoppable at the moment but you could quite easily make the argument that the two best attacks in world football are in La Liga right now, even in the game against Betis last week Madrid had numerous chances to score two or three goals including a penalty that they simply have to take if they want to maintain pace with Flick’s Barcelona this season. They flexed their muscles tonight against a decent Vallecano side in the first half but when the likes of Mbappe, Bellingham and Vinicius Junior are on form there’s very little you can do to stop them, the funny thing is the left-back Alvaro Carreras who has been heavily criticised over the last year was central to the opening two goals in winning the penalty then finishing well in the box after a brilliant one-two with Mbappe. Cucurella was brought in over the summer to start but despite being the better defender doesn’t offer the same threat that Carreras does going forward, the third goal is exactly what I want to see more of from Real Madrid with Vinicius Junior playing a brilliant cutback to Bellingham who was never going to miss in his current form. Despite the Brazilian not being in brilliant goal scoring form if he can provide more creativity from the left then Mbappe and Bellingham can score the goals, it’s not going to be possible for each one of them to score every game so one of them has to be providing assists, I thought Madrid’s second half was quite poor up until Arda Guler came on giving Vallecano far too much room on the counter who easily could have got back in the game with better decision making. The fourth goal is just world-class from Mbappe and added some icing on the cake but I’d imagine Mourinho will be slightly worried by his teams performance in the second half, overall the three points is all that matters for Madrid following the Betis defeat but they simply cannot afford to slip up again in a game like that.

3. A tough start to the season for Rayo Vallecano. Their fixture list looked tough on paper before the season started seeing as they couldn’t even play at home given the dispute about the stadium which you can read more about in my Barcelona post-match game last week but having to go the Camp Nou and the Bernabeu was always an uphill battle for this team, the win against Racing Santander last week was crucial to get them their first win but in a stadium that holds 14,000 with only 4,000 in it sums up the issue at Vallecano at the moment. They are basically playing away from home every match until the stadium is sorted and that has led to them sitting 16th in the league at the minute five games in, the big positive from their start to the season has been Sergio Camello who has scored six goals so far in La Liga which has him level with the likes of Mbappe, Yamal and Raphinha which isn’t bad company to be in. He’s never been a prolific striker since joining Vallecano in 2023 which it all the more bizarre that he’s started this season on fire as the joint La Liga top scorer, whether he holds the Pachichi at the end of the season remains to be seen but it is imperative that he stays fit this season as he’s Vallecano’s only shining light at the minute. Defensively Vallecano have been a disaster so far this season conceding 15 goals in 5 games and you could see it on full display tonight conceding a stupid penalty then punching the ball straight back to Madrid for the second goal, silly mistakes that will cost Vallecano long-term if they don’t sort it out. Overall a loss at the Bernabeu isn’t the end of the world but Vallecano just have to survive until they get back in their stadium, when that will be I don’t know but hopefully soon.

4. Arda Guler has to be starting in this team. He only played 20 minutes tonight and yet created the most chances out of anyone on the pitch, Mourinho gave Yan Diomande his first start tonight and although I thought he done okay there’s a quite clear gulf in class between him and Guler. In my opinion he has been criminally underused in his time at Madrid so far and you could make the argument that beside Mbappe he has been Madrid’s best player this season and he’s not even a guaranteed starter, you just need to look at last season against Bayern Munich at the Allianz when Guler nearly single-handedly dragged Madrid though to the semi-finals with two brilliant goals to understand just much quality he has. His importance to this Madrid team cannot be understated this season and I think Mourinho can see that so far, if it means that Diomande has to sit on the bench for the majority of the season then so be it but Madrid will be better off with Guler in the starting 11. What’s Guler’s ceiling at Real Madrid under Jose Mourinho? I think the sky is the limit to be honest.

5. What’s up next for these two sides? Up next for Real Madrid they take a trip to Elche on Tuesday before a crunch Madrid derby against Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano next Sunday just before the international break which will set the tone for the discourse over the next three weeks in Spain, for Vallecano they take on Espanyol at ‘home’ also on Tuesday before taking a trip to Osasuna on Saturday before the break. You’d hope they get the stadium sorted between then and October when they come back, it’s critical for their survival this season. Lets hope there’s a good weekend of football ahead.