Madrid go level at the top

Real Madrid beat Rayo Vallecano 4-1 at the Bernabeu and drew level with Barcelona in La Liga. The champions, perfect so far, visit Levante on Sunday to take the lead back.

An answer to the Betis loss

Jose Mourinho's side had lost their previous league game to Real Betis. Against Rayo they settled it early, three goals up by half-time.

“(It was) fundamental to win, above all after losing the last game in La Liga”

Penalty opens the door

Florian Lejeune clumsily felled Alvaro Carreras in the 14th minute. Mbappe stepped up and sent goalkeeper Emil Audero the wrong way.

Lejeune errs again

Vinicius Junior pressed Lejeune into giving the ball away. Carreras exchanged passes with Mbappe and drilled home the second.

A debut that misfired

Record signing Yan Diomande got his first Madrid start and cut in from the right with a dribble that left Rayo's defence scrambling, then lashed the shot high and wide.

Bellingham makes it three

Vinicius charged down the left and cut it back for Jude Bellingham, whose third goal of the season killed the game. Mourinho had publicly backed Vinicius after fans whistled him against Inter.

Camello punishes a giveaway

Six minutes into the second half Vinicius lost the ball to Sergio Camello, who poked it past Courtois. That was Camello's sixth of the season, joint-top with Raphinha and Mbappe.

Courtois holds the line

Rayo kept pushing. Pedro Diaz hit the post and forced a strong save, and Courtois also pushed away efforts from Giorgi Tsitaishvili and Lejeune.

“I think we could have scored in the first half too, but it's true that they were better”

Guler steadies it

Mourinho brought on Arda Guler to regain control, and the Turkish midfielder helped create the fourth. Mbappe finished it low and across goal in stoppage time.

“Arda is very good, he's got a lot of quality, he influences the team's play in a good way”

Seven goals and counting

That late finish was Mbappe's seventh of the season across all competitions, days after he laid out in public why the Ballon d'Or should be his. Madrid travel to Elche on Tuesday.