Valencia 0-2 Real Madrid: Carreras and Mbappe score to earn hard-fought 3 points

Kylian Mbappe scored his 38th goal of the season as Real Madrid claimed a seventh straight La Liga victory to cut the gap to leaders Barcelona to just one point.

Match Report

The French forward converted a low cross in second-half stoppage time to clinch the win after Alvaro Carreras had put the visitors ahead earlier in the second half.

Madrid had struggled to break down a disciplined Valencia outfit until Carreras bundled his way past two defenders before steering a low, right-footed effort into the net to break the deadlock 20 minutes into the second half.

Alvaro Arbeloa's side, who were without the suspended Vinicius Junior and the injured Jude Bellingham, enjoyed plenty of early possession without troubling Stole Dimitrievski in the Valencia goal.

They soon began to threaten, though, and Arda Guler had a low shot deflected wide before Dimitrievski parried a powerful Mbappe drive out of harm's way.

The Valencia keeper then produced an even better save to tip David Jimenez's first-time strike wide of the far post.

Valencia's best chance of the first half fell to the lively Arnaut Danjuma but his left-footed drive was deflected wide by Raul Asencio, while Lucas Beltran flicked a Danjuma delivery wide of the far post early in the second period.

Beltran almost restored parity five minutes after Carreras' opener, but the forward's first-time, left-footed effort struck the outside of the post.

Mbappe's late goal made sure of the three points and that Real matched Barcelona's victory over Mallorca on Saturday to end the weekend as they started it, one point apart.

Valencia stay 17th but are now just one point above the bottom three – although they have played a game more than all three teams in the relegation zone.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

10' Valverde has a volley which is wide

18' Mbappe tests Valencia keeper with a driven shot from the right

24' Mbappe turns but hits a weak effort straight at keeper under pressure

28' Mbappe unselfishly plays in David Jimenez but he can't beat goalkeeper

38' Camavinga decides to let fly from 30 yards and sends an effort over the bar

43' Arda Guler sends a pass into the box but the keeper gets it first

65' GOAL! Carreras cuts in and opens the scoring! Valencia 0-1 Real Madrid

75' Double change for Real as Arnold replaces Jimenez & Diaz for Gonzalo Garcia

78' Highlight from Valencia vs Real Madrid

81' Real take off Arda Guler and bring on Franco Mastantuono

83' Match Event for Valencia vs Real Madrid

88' Match Event for Valencia vs Real Madrid

Line-ups

Valencia XI: Stole Dimitrievski, Gaya, Rioja, Eray Cömert, Núñez, Pepelu, Arnaut Danjuma, Filip Ugrinic, José Copete, Hugo Duro, Lucas Beltrán

Subs: Santamaria, G. Rodriguez, Umar, Dani Raba, Almeida, Cristian Rivero, Correia, Jesús Vázquez, Ramazani, César Tárrega, Diego López, Javier Guerra

Real Madrid XI: Courtois, Mbappe, Valverde, Tchouameni, Camavinga, Güler, Álvaro Carreras, David Jiménez, Gonzalo García, Raúl Asencio, Dean Huijsen

Subs: Alaba, Carvajal, Rudiger, Ceballos, Alexander-Arnold, Brahim, Lunin, Fran García, Sergio Mestre, Franco Mastantuono, Jorge Cestero