Madrid beat Valladolid but Mbappe fires Bernabeu blanks

Spanish champions Real Madrid earned a 3-0 win over Real Valladolid in La Liga on Sunday as Kylian Mbappe made his Santiago Bernabeu bow without finding the net.

The French striker played at home for the first time in a Madrid shirt but was largely frustrated by Valladolid’s defence.

Madrid midfielder Fede Valverde opened the scoring with a low deflected free-kick after 50 minutes and substitutes Brahim Diaz and debutant Endrick struck late on.

Madrid created little in the first half but did enough after the break to earn their first win of the season, following an opening draw at Real Mallorca.

Still lacking fluency in attack, Carlo Ancelotti’s side stayed two points behind rivals Barcelona, who beat Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

“It was very hard, above all at the start, we didn’t click in the way the coach wanted us to, we lacked attitude when attacking, we were too passive and improved a lot in the second half,” said Valverde.

“I’m very happy to help the team with goals but the important thing is the defensive work, of which I feel proud and these days I have to get involved in a lot.”

Ancelotti brought in Arda Guler for the injured Jude Bellingham, who was expected to miss a month with a calf problem.

Real Valladolid were the only team in the division to keep a clean sheet in their opening fixture and from the start, they set out to frustrate the champions.

Darwin Machis had a deflected effort whistle narrowly wide but otherwise it was all hands to the pump in defence for the visitors.

Aurelien Tchouameni fired over from long range as Madrid dominated possession without threatening in the Spanish capital’s summer heat.

Madrid came out with more bite in the second half and soon took the lead.

Valverde smashed home a vicious low