.png)
1 hour ago
2
Kylian Mbappé scored twice as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to end a three-match winless streak in La Liga.
Mbappe’s France teammate Eduardo Camavinga also found the net as Real moved back within a point of Barcelona, who beat Atlético Madrid 3-1 on Tuesday.
Both matches were moved forward because Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic and Atlético will be playing in the Spanish Super Cup in January in Saudi Arabia.
Madrid were coming off league draws at Girona, Elche and Rayo Vallecano. It was their second win in its last six matches in all competitions.
Mbappé has scored seven goals in his last three matches in all competitions. He had scored once against Girona, and netted four times at Olympiakos in the Champions League. He has 30 goals between club and country this season and is the leading scorer in the Spanish league and the Champions League. Mbappé scored his first goal on Wednesday after a breakaway in the seventh minute, picking up the ball near midfield and racing away from a couple of defenders before finding the net from the edge of the area.
Camavinga added to the lead with a header from close range in the 42nd, and Mbappé got his second goal with a long shot in the 59th.
Camavinga had to be replaced in the 69th minute with an apparent injury. Madrid had also lost Trent Alexander-Arnold to injury 14 minutes earlier.
Napoli advanced to the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup by winning a lengthy penalty shootout against Cagliari following a 1-1 draw in regular time Wednesday.
Antonio Conte’s team prevailed 9-8 on penalties with Mattia Felici hitting the crossbar with his spot-kick for Cagliari and Zito Luvumbo having his saved by Napoli’s Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.
David Neres could have secured the win for Napoli with his team’s fifth penalty, after Felici’s miss, but his penalty was saved by Elia Caprile. Instead, it was Alessandro Buongiorno who sealed the victory after even Milinkovic-Savic had taken – and scored – a penalty.
The match had finished 1-1 after Lorenzo Lucca’s first-half header for Napoli was cancelled out by Sebastiano Esposito in the 67th minute, following an accidental assist by the home midfielder Scott McTominay.
Atalanta set up a quarter-final against Juventus with a 4-0 win over 10-man Genoa. It was Daniele De Rossi’s first defeat as Genoa coach after taking charge at the beginning of last month. Berat Djimsiti headed in a cross to give Atalanta the lead in the 19th minute and Genoa’s task became more difficult when the teenager Seydou Fini was sent off in the 36th for bringing down Raoul Bellanova when he was through on goal.
after newsletter promotion
Marten de Roon doubled Atalanta’s lead early in the second half with a powerful, swerving shot from outside the area and Mario Pasalic slid in to fire home the third late on. The 17-year-old Honest Ahanor – who joined Atalanta from Genoa in July – scored his first senior goal in stoppage time.
Stuttgart’s German Cup defense continued with a 2-0 win over Bochum to move into the quarter-finals after a nightmarish game for Philipp Strompf. Stuttgart were handed the lead in the 12th minute when Strompf headed a long Stuttgart throw past his own goalkeeper, and Strompf was then sent off just before half-time. He lost the ball to Deniz Undav then fouled Undav when the Stuttgart striker would otherwise have been through on goal.
Undav doubled Stuttgart’s lead with a header shortly after the break and his team cruised to victory over second-tier Bochum from there.
Freiburg beat second-division Darmstadt 2-0 with a penalty from Vincenzo Grifo and another goal from Lucas Höler. Grifo hit a second penalty against the crossbar late in the game.
