The Bernabeu faithful were treated to a high-scoring thriller as Real Madrid ended the year with a victory over Sevilla by 4-2.
The only change from the expected lineup was seeing Eduardo Camavinga starting as a left back instead of Fran García and as a result, Dani Ceballos starting in midfield.
Not giving Ceballos any game time would have not been a great idea since the Spaniard was going through a purple patch and Camavinga is used to playing left-back.
The game started off in the best way possible for Los Blancos as Kylian Mbappe scored a stunning goal as his long range effort ended in the back of the net to give Real Madrid the lead.
It was evident that Sevilla’s defence was not up to the mark as they did not even attempt to close down Mbappe who had all the time in the world to look up and decide which side of the net he wanted to strike the ball.
Fede Valverde from outside the box is perhaps the most dangerous player in the world and he showed it yet again after a corner was taken short. Camavinga passed it to the Uruguayan – only for him to strike it into the top corner and add to his goal tally.
Just 20 minutes into the game, Sevilla were already on the backfoot, being two goals down and they knew it would be a Herculean task to turn it around from there.
To make matters worse for the away side, their defence was opened up with ease yet again, as Lucas Vazquez assisted Rodrygo with the Brazilian easily netting the ball home and keeping up his good form.
But Sevilla were not here to give up easily because just a minute later, Real Madrid’s defence was taken by surprise and an inch-perfect cross from Juanlu Sanchez from the left found Isaac Romero, and the Argentine pulled one back for the visitors.
Lucas Vazquez’ good night continued as he got close to scoring the team’s fourth of the match but was denied by Alvaro Fernandez.
This was quite easily Real Madrid’s best first half of the season because everything went to plan: 66% possession, 11 shots at goal and 3 big chances.
The visitors came out strong in the second half, forcing Thibaut Courtois to make a save just a minute into the half.
But the game seemed to have been put to bed after Kylian Mbappe’s deft touch fell at the feet of Brahim Díaz inside the box, who from a tight angle scored his 2nd goal of the season.
Sevilla however, were not willing to give up easily as they had attempts at goal with a shot hitting the cross bar and forcing a save off Courtois also.
But the danger man, Dodi Lukebakio, managed to score the second of the night for Sevilla after he found himself with all the space and time in the world to smash a goal.
Sevilla defender Jesus Navas played his final minutes as a footballer at the Bernabeu and the reception he received from the Bernabeu crowd got him emotional as the veteran did not expect such an action from rival crowd.
But overall, the crowd was treated to some classic Real Madrid football and would be delighted with the victory since it takes them to 2nd in the La Liga table as rivals FC Barcelona slip to 3rd.
Carlo Ancelotti had a similar feeling as the Italian was delighted the way the attack played specially in Vinicius’ absence and felt everyone had an excellent game.
He was not surprised by Kylian Mbappe’s long range effort at all because the veteran manager knew that the Frenchman was a precise shooter.
Mbappe was also named Man of the Match and speaking after the match, he acknowledged that he hit rock bottom after the Bilbao game and he had to give it all from now on.
The Frenchman also mentioned that the players practice long range shots in training a lot and today they ended up in the back of the net.
Brahim Díaz had a goal to his name, with the Moroccan thanking Mbappe since Mbappe had promised that he would assist him.
Overall, it was the perfect game for Madrid and they head into the Christmas break now as players are given off to spend time with their families. The squad is expected to return to training on 30th December.
