real Madrid Real Valladolid claimed their first La Liga win of the season with a thumping 3-0 victory at home to Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
Los Blancos are unbeaten in the first two games of their La Liga title defence with a 1-1 draw at Mallorca last weekend.
Second-half goals from Federico Valverde, Brahim Diaz and a first club goal from Endrick Felipe secured victory against Valladolid, but the main talking point after the match centred on Ancelotti’s subdued attack led by Kylian Mbappé.
Mbappe’s summer arrival in Madrid has caused a stir in the Spanish capital and he scored on his club debut in the 2-0 UEFA Super Cup final win over Atalanta.
However, his start to the championship has been less dazzling, with two shots off target in Mallorca and three against Valladolid.
Ancelotti will maintain his usual calm over Mbappe’s departure, but it marks a repeat of a record the France international did not want when he started at the club.
Mbappe’s burst into the AS Monaco team midway through the 2015/16 season saw him break Thierry Henry’s record as the club’s youngest player to make a Ligue 1 appearance and his subsequent goalscoring record.
As a first-team regular in 2016/17, he scored on his first two league starts, albeit split between August and October, and he scored on one of his first two league starts as a PSG player in 2017/18.
In 2018/19 and 2019/20, he scored at least once in the first two league outings, before injury forced him to miss the start of the 2020/21 season, with 2021/22 being the only time he has failed to find the net in the opening two rounds of a league season.
That has now been matched in Madrid, with Mbappe not failing to score in his first three league appearances in a season of his career, as all eyes turn to Real Madrid’s trip to Las Palmas on August 29.
