Kylian Mbappe is scoring at a rate that ought to worry everyone else in Spain. The France striker took his season tally to 11 goals in 11 games at the weekend, two of them in a 4-1 win over Sevilla that keeps Real Madrid six points behind Barcelona with the clubs due to meet at the Nou Camp on 25 October.
Jose Mourinho's side did not have it all their own way. Sevilla stayed in the contest for long spells and had their moments after the break, but by then Real had built the kind of lead that invites a visiting team to chase the game and get punished for it.
Guler breaks it, Mbappe doubles it
The opener arrived in the 30th minute and it was worth waiting for. Arda Guler struck cleanly from distance, and seven minutes later Mbappe made it two by running clear and rounding Odysseas Vlachodimos before rolling the ball in. There is no trick to that second goal. He simply arrived at the ball before the goalkeeper could organise himself, which has become a habit.
Mbappe's third involvement was the penalty. He was brought down inside the area and got up to take it himself, which settled the result and ended any sense that Sevilla might climb back into it.
Sevilla's response came too late
Sevilla were not passengers. Felix Correia's volley bounced into the turf and flew just over the crossbar in the second half, the sort of miss that changes a scoreline when it drops a foot lower. Manu Bueno eventually got them on the board with a curled finish into the bottom corner late on, a goal that deserved better company.
Real answered almost immediately. Yan Diomande hammered a fine strike past the Sevilla goalkeeper to restore the three-goal cushion and take the night away from the visitors for good.
What it means before El Clasico
Six points is a real gap at this stage, and it is the reason Sunday mattered beyond the three points. Barcelona have set a pace that leaves Real no room to drop anything before the two meet, and a defeat here would have made the trip to Catalonia closer to a rescue mission than a title fixture.
Instead Madrid arrive with a striker in the best run of his Real career and a reasonable claim that the title race is still a race. Mourinho will know the rest. Beat Barcelona and the gap becomes three. Lose and the conversation shifts for the season.
Match facts: Real Madrid 4-1 Sevilla. Scorers: Guler 30, Mbappe 37 and pen, Diomande; Bueno for Sevilla. Mbappe has scored 11 goals in 11 games in all competitions this season. Real Madrid remain six points behind leaders Barcelona and travel to face them in La Liga on 25 October.
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