Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday scored a goal and raised a trophy on debut for Real Madrid.
The France captain pulled on the white jersey of the Spanish champions for the first time in a competitive match and marked the occasion with the second goal in their 2-0 win over Atalanta BC in the UEFA Super Cup.
Mbappe, who started and played 82 minutes at the National Stadium in Warsaw, met a pass from Jude Bellingham across the area with a shot into the top corner in the 68th minute.
Photo: EPA-EFE
After putting both arms across his chest in celebration, he was congratulated by Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo, the other members of Madrid’s star-studded strike force that might be sending tremors across European soccer heading into the new season.
Federico Valverde tapped home a cross from Vinicius in the 59th minute to set Madrid on their way to a record sixth victory in the Super Cup, the annual match between the UEFA Champions League winners (Madrid) and the UEFA Europa League champions (Atalanta).
Madrid are used to records — no team has more UEFA European Cup titles than their 15 — and owning the world’s best players.
Photo: Reuters
Mbappe certainly belongs in that category and it was a strong start to life at the world’s top soccer club, one he dreamed of playing for as a child.
Now he is Madrid’s No. 9, starting the Super Cup as the team’s central striker — to limited success — before moving out wide for the second half.
However, Vinicius and Bellingham, stars of Madrid’s runs to the Champions League and La Liga titles last season, were the game’s standout players as Carlo Ancelotti’s team eventually overpowered Atalanta after an even first half that saw both sides hit the crossbar.
Madrid defender Eder Militao deflected a cross onto his own bar, before Rodrygo fired in a shot just before halftime that struck the top of the bar.
Mbappe wowed the crowd with a couple of tricks and spins, but did not make too much of an impact in the first half.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS