Real Madrid Beat Sevilla 4-1 as Mbappe Scores Twice

Real Madrid beat Sevilla 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday night, with Kylian Mbappe scoring twice in a win that lifted Jose Mourinho's side up to third in La Liga.

Arda Guler opened the scoring on 30 minutes, Mbappe made it 2-0 seven minutes later and added a penalty in the 63rd minute, and Yan Diomande scored in the 82nd, two minutes after Manu Bueno had pulled one back for Sevilla. Madrid have 21 points from nine games. Sevilla stay sixth on 14.

Guler escapes, then scores

The game turned in the middle of the first half. Guler caught Peque Fernandez with an elbow as the two ran back toward the Madrid goal, and Sevilla expected a red card. Referee Mateo Busquets Ferrer and the video officials took no action against Guler and booked Dean Huijsen and Sevilla captain Felix Correia for the argument that followed.

Guler scored minutes later. Diomande picked him out and he finished first time into the top corner from the edge of the area. In the 37th minute Mbappe took a backheel pass from Jude Bellingham, turned past his marker, rounded goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos and rolled the ball into an empty net. It was his eighth goal in nine league games this season.

Penalty settles it

Sevilla had no answer before half time. Thibaut Courtois was barely tested, and the one save he had to make came from a low Lucien Agoume shot in stoppage time.

Madrid kept control after the break. Diomande played Mbappe in behind the defence in the 61st minute and Andres Castrin brought him down. Mbappe chipped the penalty down the middle for 3-0.

Bueno gave Sevilla a brief lift in the 80th minute, carrying the ball forward after Mbappe lost it near his own box and shooting low into the far corner. The reply took two minutes. Diomande cut in from the left and drove the ball into the top corner at the near post.

Madrid finished with 65 percent of the possession and eight shots on target from 15 attempts. Mbappe was named man of the match. Endrick made his first start of the season and came off in the 69th minute after a quiet night, while Guler started in place of the suspended Vinicius Junior.

What it means

The win is Madrid's eighth in a row at home in the league, and it cuts Barcelona's lead at the top to six points before the two meet in the Clasico next weekend. Sevilla have lost ground in the race for the European places and have now conceded four goals in a game they needed to keep tight.

Madrid turn to Europe next. They host RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Wednesday, then travel across the city divide in the table for the game that will shape their autumn: Barcelona away, with first place still out of reach but the gap down to two results.