Holders Real Madrid hammered RB Salzburg 5-1 in a Champions League clash in the Spanish capital on Wednesday thanks to doubles from Brazilian forwards Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr either side of a goal by Kylian Mbappé.
Despite the Austrian side dominating early proceedings and creating real trouble with their high press, Real slowly took control of the action with inspiring performances from their Brazilian duo plus England midfielder Jude Bellingham.
The Spaniards opened the scoring with a quick counter attack by Vinicius who delivered a long pass through the box destined for Bellingham. But after he failed to control the ball in his stride, Rodrygo reacted quickly to slot a first-touch effort just inside the right post in the 23rd minute.
Rodrygo extended the home side’s lead in the 34th minute, curling home a shot from inside the box after a brilliant back heel flick from Bellingham in a fine one-two combination between them.
Mbappé took advantage of a massive blunder by Salzburg goalkeeper and captain Janis Blaswich, who failed to dribble the ball past the French striker and instead gifted him the third goal in the 48th minute.
With an easy win well underway, Vinicius started putting on a show up and down the left channel and made two magnificent runs in the 55th and 77th minutes to extend Madrid’s lead.
First he took a great long pass by Luka Modric in his stride to beat one defender in speed and another with a cut inside before firing an unstoppable strike into the top corner.
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Vinicius stroked in the fifth in another quick counter, receiving a Federico Valverde pass in space and dribbling past two defenders before wrong-footing the goalkeeper.
Mads Bidstrup scored the visitors’ consolation goal in the 85th minute.
After a slow start to their title defence, losing three of their first five matches, Real Madrid are 16th in the standings on 12 points.
They have secured qualification for the next round, but would need to win their last game at Brest and rely on other results to earn a top-eight finish and avoid a two-legged playoff.
“A very important day for us. A win that gives us a lot of confidence going forward,” Rodrygo told Movistar Plus.
“Sometimes we go through difficult times. We work hard not to, but it’s not always easy. This season we are failing a bit in games that we can’t fail.
“I truly believe that it’s always going to be difficult in the Champions League. We need to have a relentless mentality, to score a lot of goals and win a lot of games.”
Salzburg are 34th, third from bottom, eliminated from the competition with only three points from seven games.
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