Madrid Dominates Rayo Vallecano with 4-1 Victory
Madrid’s response to their shock defeat against Real Betis was ruthless. Rayo Vallecano walked into the storm at the Bernabéu and left on the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline, as Los Blancos made it four wins from their first five La Liga games and reminded the league exactly where the power still lies.
Mbappé leads the charge, again
The tension from that Betis loss barely had time to settle before Kylian Mbappé cut through it. He opened the scoring from the penalty spot, cool and clinical, to put Madrid in front and settle any early nerves.
Rayo barely had time to reset. Mbappé turned provider minutes later, sliding the ball into the path of Álvaro Carreras, who finished to double the lead and tilt the night firmly in Madrid’s favour.
The pressure kept coming. Vinícius Jr darted into the box and pulled the ball back with typical sharpness, and Jude Bellingham arrived to turn it in. Three goals, flowing football, and a Bernabéu crowd that suddenly looked like it was enjoying itself again.
By half-time, it felt done.
Fatigue bites, but Madrid finish the job
Rayo, to their credit, refused to disappear. After the break, Sergio Camello found a way through and halved the deficit, briefly waking the contest and exposing what José Mourinho already knew: his players were running on fumes after a heavy early-season schedule and midweek Champions League duty.
Madrid’s intensity dipped. The control wasn’t as clean, the duels a little slower, and the gaps a little wider. Mourinho saw it from the touchline and didn’t hide from it afterward.
“We score a lot of goals, but we also miss a lot of chances. I told my staff that one day there will be a team that will pay for all these missed chances (laughs). There will be a match where we score seven goals,” he said, as quoted by MadridXtra. “We played for 45 minutes and then it was over. I knew the players were tired and couldn't play another half like that. Look at how Bellingham played the final ten minutes, with no energy.”
Even running on empty, Madrid still had Mbappé. Deep into stoppage time, he struck again to seal the points and restore the three-goal cushion. That goal did more than close the game; it etched his name alongside Karim Benzema’s 2021-22 start, matching the Frenchman’s mark of six goals in the opening five league fixtures.
Seventeen home games against Rayo now without defeat, stretching back to 1996. Another line in the record book, another reminder of how unforgiving this stadium can be.
Bernardo Silva finds his rhythm
While Mbappé grabbed the headlines, Bernardo Silva continued to weave himself into the fabric of this Madrid side. Signed in the summer as one of the club’s marquee additions, the Portuguese midfielder is slowly becoming the metronome Mourinho wanted.
He doesn’t need fireworks to influence a game. He dictates tempo, calms the chaos, and gives Madrid a passing rhythm that has been missing in recent years. When the match loosened in the second half and legs grew heavy, his role in keeping the ball moving became even more obvious.
Reflecting on his adaptation, Silva was clear about his remit under Mourinho: “We are happy with the three points, but now we need to get ready for the next game. What Jose Mourinho asks of me? To help in the build-up with the ball. He wants me to give the team more fluidity so we can progress the ball. I'm trying to adapt and to give the best version of myself.”
Madrid left with three points, four goals and a response that mattered. The warning sign, though, was written just beneath the scoreline: tired bodies, a long season ahead, and a manager who knows they can’t always finish games in 45 minutes.
