real Madrid 5-1 Red Bull Salzburg (Rodrygo goes x2, Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior x2). A resounding victory. Here’s the immediate reaction to all the action. More for you: player ratings, press conferences and a post-game podcast.
The person responsible for the new Champions League format is a genius. At least as far as the inaugural season is concerned, this first phase has enough games to spare any big team the blushes, while allowing fans to reflect on their chances and gloat over the meaningless “league standings”. Real Madrid knows that they only need to be among the top 24 to advance to the well-known knockout phase (or in the language of any Real Madrid fan: show time). A win here would secure their place in the playoffs, despite those superficial concerns about their record just two games earlier. Red Bull Salzburg was the team that traveled to the Spanish capital, and Fede Valverde was the latest right-back experiment when Carlo Ancelotti changed things slightly. Raúl Asencio had the opportunity to start and Dani Ceballos also returned to the lineup. Luka Modrić was the captain of the team.
Red Bull Salzburg made it look like this might not be so simple for Los Blancos with an early shot that narrowly missed the post. However, Madrid would take over from here to ensure there were no surprises, with Rodrygo Goes opening the scoring with a simple finish. His and Madrid’s second would show much more quality, as a give and take with Jude Bellingham led to Rodrygo finding the far post with a curling shot from the edge of the area. 2-0 and flying at half-time.
Kylian Mbappé ensured that Salzburg would have another torrid game after taking advantage of a goalkeeper error to make it 3-0 in the first three minutes of the second half. Vinícius Júnior joined the action soon after, cutting in deftly before firing home for four. The Brazilian would then join the 100 club with a clever finish after taking a touch to the defender to open up enough space to finish low and enter triple figures for Real Madrid. Salzburg pulled one back with a great shot to give the visiting fans something to cheer about, but it was not enough to prevent the big score. After the match, Real Madrid wins 5-1 against Red Bull Salzburg and Madrid moves on to the second phase of the Champions League.