Real Madrid are back on top of the Spanish La Liga after a brace from Kylian Mbappe completed a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Villarreal at the El Madrigal on Saturday.
The visitors came into the tie off the back of an exhausting victory over Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League round-of-16 phase in midweek and knew that a win would push them to the summit of the table provisionally.
But it was the Yellow Submarine that started the game well, with top scorer Ayoze Perez twice denied by Thibaut Courtois in the opening seven minutes before finally getting the breakthrough moments later.
Former Tottenham Hotspur defender, Juan Foyth, opened the scoring in the eighth minute. Courtois had tipped a low curling effort from Perez behind for a corner, and Foyth was on hand to slam home the ball amid a goalmouth scramble from the resulting corner.
Falling behind was the tonic Madrid needed to push for the equaliser, which arrived 10 minutes later through a familiar face, as Mbappe played a through ball to Brahim Diaz and when his shot was saved by Diego Conde, the Frenchman was on hand to score the rebound.
Mbappe then put Real Madrid ahead just six minutes later, latching on to a cutback on the byline from Lucas Vasquez to send a curling effort beyond the reach of Conde to score his 20th league goal of the campaign, just one behind top scorer Robert Lewandowski.
The goal also ensured Mbappe becomes the first French player to score 30 or more goals in six successive seasons in Europe’s top five leagues, just as he has now passed Ronaldo de Lima on the all-time list of most goals scored in a debut season for Real Madrid.