Real Madrid swept to a third straight Champions League win with a 4-1 defeat of RB Leipzig at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night. Bernardo Silva's opener and Arda Guler's strike had Madrid in control, and after Kylian Mbappe curled in a third, substitute Yan Diomande — who had set Mbappe up — answered Tidiam Gomis' reply with a goal of his own in a frantic final ten minutes.
Bernardo breaks through, Guler doubles up
Leipzig, beaten 4-1 by Como on Matchday 1 but winners over PSV since, defended bravely for 44 minutes — and then Madrid's senior quality told. Bernardo Silva, the summer signing who has given Jose Mourinho's midfield its metronome, struck on the stroke of half-time for 1-0, and the Bernabeu relaxed.
Seven minutes after the restart it was two. Mbappe turned provider, feeding Guler to score — the same combination that lit up Madrid's 4-1 win over Sevilla at the weekend — and Leipzig's game plan was in tatters. The visitors had their moments, Romulo forcing Thibaut Courtois into action, but Madrid's 61 per cent possession and 18 shots told the story of a side managing the night on its own terms.
Madrid's pressure had been building long before the goals. Vinicius Junior, restored to the starting line-up, drew two saves from Maarten Vandevoordt with the kind of direct running Leipzig's back line never contained, Jude Bellingham probed constantly from midfield, and Federico Valverde — playing at right-back — tested the goalkeeper from distance. Leipzig's five saves across the night were a fair measure of how long their resistance had been under siege before Bernardo finally broke it.
Mourinho's substitutions shaped the finish. Diomande replaced Vinicius Junior on 70 minutes, and Brahim Diaz came on for Guler eight minutes later; both would leave their fingerprints on the closing stages. Leipzig, who had beaten PSV through the kind of defensive discipline recalled in their 1-0 win in Eindhoven, were being pulled apart.
Three goals in four wild minutes
On 83 minutes Diomande set up Mbappe, who curled a sumptuous finish in from the edge of the box for 3-0, as OneFootball's live coverage described it. Leipzig responded instantly — substitute Gomis, on for Antonio Nusa, ripped in a reply two minutes later from Christoph Baumgartner's pass — but Madrid simply went again: Brahim released Diomande on 87 minutes and the youngster joined the party for 4-1.
There were no red cards, just a yellow card apiece for Alvaro Carreras and Leipzig substitute Rocco Reitz, and the Bernabeu rose at full-time for a side that has now scored four in back-to-back games. Diomande's goal-and-assist cameo, in 20 minutes off the bench, was the night's loudest statement.
So what: Madrid perfect, Leipzig stuck on three
Madrid move to nine points from three matches — perfect, and level at the top of the league-phase table — ahead of El Clasico this weekend and a Matchday 4 trip to AEK Athens on 4 November. Mourinho's squad depth is becoming the story: the bench produced a goal and two assists here, exactly the rotation a nine-month campaign demands.
Leipzig stay on three points and slide towards the elimination places; a 4-1 defeat damages a goal difference that was already negative. Martin Demichelis' side host Manchester City on Matchday 4 — as hard a fixture as this format offers — and anything less than a point there leaves their play-off hopes hanging by a thread.
Beyond the Final Whistle: this is what a European machine looks like. Madrid were patient for 44 minutes, ruthless for 45, and still had Diomande in reserve to turn a win into a rout. Leipzig were organised, brave and beaten 4-1 — the gap between the league phase's elite and its hopefuls, measured in one night. Is this Mourinho's Madrid now favourites alongside PSG? Let us know in the comments.
