Dream duo Mbappe – Courtois brings down Athletic

Real Madrid is struggling under new coach Xabi Alonso. Former Real player took the team before the FIFA Club World Cup in June and now it‘s December, but he still hasn‘t found the winning formula. His players are not dominating on the field, they have three draws and one defeat and managed to get three points in some games, which were a bit controversial. Also, Alonso can be thankful to Kylian Mbappe and Thibaut Courtois. So far, Mbappe scored 25 goals for Real (six braces, a hat-trick and a four-goal haul) and among those 25 is a brace he made tonight in an easy 3-0 win over Atletic Bilbao. The magic duo Mbappe (for scoring) and Courtois (for saving excellent chances) has saved Alonso so many times and they did it again.

This is a strange Real team which failed to win against relegation strugglers Girona (1-1), Elche and Rayo Vallecano, and yet they produced easily the best performance of the season and defeated much stronger Atletic at San Mames tonight. Good team effort, goals at the right time to ‘kill any motivation‘ from the opposition and fantastic Courtois saves to keep the clean sheet. Mbappe was in the middle of everyting as the Frenchman scored two excellent goals and assisted for Camavinga who scored the third one. The guests had two excellent chances while the score was still relevant but that‘s where Thibaut Courtois stepped up and saved them all, allowing Real to record and easy and relaxed win. The hunt for Barcelona is on again, as Real has only one point less than the Catalans.

Madrid came out of the blocks strongly and took the lead in the seventh minute, through a brilliant Mbappe goal. Alexander-Arnold picked out the forward with a fine long pass and Mbappe drifted menacingly towards the box and produced a perfect finish to beat Simon. Gorka Guruzeta fired over and forced Thibaut Courtois into a good save at the other end, on one of Athletic's rare forays forward. Their best chance came when Nico Williams and Alex Berenguer combined and Courtois produced a superb stop to deny the latter.

It woke Madrid back up and they took control once again, threatening twice through Vinicius, who was connecting efficiently with Mbappe. The Brazilian winger hit the outside of the post with a low effort from a tight angle, with Simon out of his goal attempting to block him off. The goalkeeper made an excellent save to thwart Vinicius one-on-one a few minutes later after Eder Militao sent him through on goal. Madrid grabbed their second before the interval at the end of a fine team move, with Mbappe nodding Alexander-Arnold's cross back across goal for Camavinga to head home from point-blank range.

Courtois tipped over Mikel Jauregizar's fierce effort from range early in the second half to stop Athletic earning a foothold in the game. Madrid's night worsened when Alexander-Arnold pulled up with an apparent muscular injury and had to be replaced by Raul Asencio. Mbappe put the game beyond doubt with another long-range effort which flew in at the near post. Simon might have done more to keep it out, perhaps undoing some of his earlier good work.

LA LIGA - MATCHDAY 19

Tuesday

Barcelona - Atletico Madrid 3-1 (1-1)

/Raphinha 26, Olmo 65 - Torres 90+6 - Baena 19/

Wednesday

Athletic Bilbao - Real Madrid 3-0 (2-0)

/Mbappe 7, 59, Camavinga 42/

*The games have been brought forward due to their overlap with Supercopa de Espana*