Kylian Mbappe continued his rich vein of form with a hat-trick on Saturday to power Real Madrid to a 3-0 win over Real Valladolid and a four-point lead at the top of Spanish La Liga.
Second-place Atletico Madrid drew 1-1 at home earlier against Villarreal.
Mbappe has hit his devastating best in recent weeks after struggling for consistency following his summer switch from Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
Photo: AFP
The French superstar climbed to 15 league goals for the season, trailing only Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski, on 16.
Mbappe’s first Madrid treble helped his team, playing without suspended Brazil international Vinicius Junior, ease to a simple away victory against bottom side Valladolid.
“I’m happy with the hat-trick, but more happy with the win, I feel like I say that every week but it’s the truth,” Mbappe told Real Madrid TV.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“It was very important to win today after Atletico’s result... So we’re happy and go back to Madrid with the victory,” he said.
“Mbappe is bringing a lot to the team, he’s found form in the last couple of months and obviously for us that’s a plus, he’s a player with a lot of quality,” Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti told reporters.
Atletico Madrid dropped two more points in the title race in a hard-fought draw with Villarreal.
Photo: AFP
Samuel Lino’s strike after 58 minutes pulled Diego Simeone’s side level after Villarreal took the lead through a Gerard Moreno first-half penalty at the Metropolitano.
Simeone began with key players Antoine Griezmann and Rodrigo de Paul on the bench, rotating his side after their draining UEFA Champions League comeback win against Bayer Leverkusen in midweek.
“We found the draw, we took the game to a place where we could have won it, but it wasn’t possible,” Simeone said. “We will continue on our path, going game by game.”
BUNDESLIGA
AFP, FREIBURG IM BREISGAU, Germany
Harry Kane scored as Bayern Munich won 2-1 at SC Freiburg on Saturday to move six points clear of Bayer Leverkusen, who threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at RB Leipzig.
Kane and English compatriot Eric Dier created the opener in the 15th minute.
Dier found Kane who drilled a low shot through the fingers of Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu. The goal was Kane’s first from open play since mid-November and his 17th in 17 league games this season.
Bayern doubled their lead after 54 minutes when Kim Min-jae outmuscled Atubolu and headed in a Joshua Kimmich corner. Freiburg made Bayern sweat when Matthias Ginter headed in a corner with 22 minutes remaining, but the German giants held firm to bounce back from Wednesday’s surprise 3-0 Champions League loss at Feyenoord.
In their first match since sacking coach Nuri Sahin, 10-man Borussia Dortmund also let a two-goal lead slip to draw 2-2 at home against Werder Bremen.
SERIE A
Reuters
Juventus manager Thiago Motta was disappointed with his side’s first Italian Serie A loss of the season at leaders SSC Napoli on Saturday and pointed to the amount of preparation time the hosts have for matches as they are not playing in Europe this term.
Antonio Conte’s Napoli staged a second-half comeback to win 2-1 at home thanks to goals from Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa and Romelu Lukaku and lead the table with 53 points, six above Inter who have two games in hand. Juve are fifth on 37 points.
“I’m disappointed with the defeat. We had a good first half, causing our opponents a lot of problems, a side that is not top of the table as a fluke, because they have a great coach and had the opportunity to prepare all week for this,” Motta told DAZN. “However, we did not have that luxury, and it showed, because all the good work we did in the first half, we struggled to replicate in the second and that is why we were unable to win.”
LIGUE 1
Reuters, PARIS
PSG had to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to mid-table Stade de Reims on Saturday after Ousmane Dembele’s second-half strike was canceled out by Keito Nakamura’s, although they stretched their lead at the top of French Ligue 1 to 10 points.
“It was a complicated game. Reims are a good team,” new PSG signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia said. “We could have won, we had a lot of chances, but we have to keep working and the results will follow.”
“It wasn’t easy. We deserved the draw,” he said.
PSG next visit VfB Stuttgart in their final first phase game of the Champions League as they look to secure a playoff spot.
“Now we have to focus on Wednesday’s game because we’re playing every three days. We need to recover well,” defender Lucas Hernandez said.
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time at the end of normal time as ugly scenes broke out in the stands. However, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved the weak attempted “Panenka” chip by the Real Madrid winger, who was clearly distracted by the long delay that followed the penalty award.
James Harden on Friday scored 31 points and came up big in overtime to help the Los Angeles Clippers erase a double-digit deficit on the way to a 121-117 NBA victory over the Toronto Raptors. Harden scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Clippers pushed their wining steak to five games despite the absence of star Kawhi Leonard with a sprained right ankle. The Clippers trailed by 11 entering the fourth quarter, but Harden drilled a pair of free-throws with 1:24 left in regulation to tie it and after misses from both teams, they went to
Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg on Wednesday was ruled out for the second half of their 118-109 loss to the Denver Nuggets after the No. 1 pick sprained his left ankle in the first half. Flagg was called for a foul while defending against Peyton Watson and turned the ankle as he fell to the floor with 6 minutes, 1 second left in the second quarter. Flagg limped to the bench and continued to the locker room, but returned for the final 2 minutes, 35 seconds before the break. The 19-year-old did not come out for the second half before the announcement that
Yassine Bounou on Wednesday saved two penalties, while Youssef en-Nesyri netted the decisive spot-kick as hosts Morocco secured a 4-2 shoot-out victory over Nigeria following a 0-0 draw in a tense Africa Cup of Nations semi-final in Rabat. Morocco, seeking their first continental title in 50 years, are to face 2021 winners Senegal in Sunday’s decider in Rabat, while Nigeria take on Egypt in the third-place playoff tomorrow. The 120 minutes before the shoot-out had few clear-cut chances for either side, but it was Morocco who created more opportunities, although they were denied by some fine saves from Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali. Nigeria
RSS