Mbappé penalty and Asencio header hand Arbeloa his first Real Madrid win

Real Madrid beat Levante 2-0 at the Bernabéu as Kylian Mbappé’s second-half penalty and a Raúl Asencio header delivered Álvaro Arbeloa his first win as head coach. The match followed a turbulent week for Real, who had lost the Supercopa final to Barcelona, seen Xabi Alonso depart as manager and suffered a Copa del Rey exit to Albacete.

Sections of the crowd booed the team and chanted at president Florentino Pérez before Dela tripped Mbappé in the box and the France forward converted the 58th-minute penalty to make it 19 league goals for the season; Asencio doubled the lead seven minutes later with a header from Arda Güler’s corner.

Asencio said the squad felt guilty after Albacete and wanted to make up for it, adding that Arbeloa asks them "to enjoy ourselves – to be protagonists, to dominate, to focus on ourselves." Other European results included Real Betis’s 2-0 win over Villarreal through Aitor Ruibal and Pablo Fornals, Inter’s 1-0 victory at Udinese via Lautaro Martínez after a Pio Esposito backheel, and Bayern Munich’s 5-1 comeback at RB Leipzig in which they scored five second-half goals to move to 50 points and protect an 11-point lead at the top; Jamal Musiala made a brief substitute appearance after recovering from last summer’s leg and ankle injuries.

Key Topics

Sports, Real Madrid, Kylian Mbappé, Raúl Asencio, Álvaro Arbeloa, Levante