September 16, (THEWILL) — Kylian Mbappé scored twice to give Real Madrid a 2-1 victory over Marseille in their UEFA Champions League opener at the Santiago Bernabéu. The French striker’s double helped Los Blancos begin their European campaign under new manager Xabi Alonso, who made the surprising decision to bench Vinícius Júnior in favour of Rodrygo on the left wing just one hour before kickoff.
Real Madrid’s evening began poorly when Trent Alexander-Arnold suffered an apparent hamstring injury just five minutes into the match. Marseille capitalised on their opponents’ early difficulties when Mason Greenwood collected a loose ball from Arda Güler and set up Tim Weah, who fired home a right-footed effort in the 22nd minute to give the French side the lead.
The hosts responded before the half-hour mark after Geoffrey Kondogbia’s clumsy challenge on Rodrygo inside the penalty area prompted referee Irfan Peljto to award a spot kick. Mbappé converted the penalty to level the score, though his deflected shot struck the crossbar early in the second half when he might have put Real Madrid ahead.
Los Blancos faced another setback in the 70th minute when Dani Carvajal received a red card following an apparent headbutt on goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli during a heated confrontation. The dismissal left Real Madrid with 10 men for the second consecutive match, forcing them to find another comeback victory.
Mbappé completed his brace with 11 minutes remaining after Facundo Medina handled the ball during a sliding tackle on Vinícius Júnior inside the penalty box. The striker stepped up to convert his second penalty of the evening, giving Alonso’s side all three points in their first UCL fixture following their disappointing European campaign last season.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
