A ridiculous four-goal showing from Kylian Mbappe led an otherwise shaky Real Madrid to a 4-3 win over Olympiacos in the Champions League on Wednesday evening. The Frechman continued his outrageous run of form, while Vinicius Jr eased tensions after a week of controversy by grabbing an assist to carry Los Blancos to a much-needed European victory against a dogged opponent.
It was a miserable start for Los Blancos. They struggled to create in the early stages, and Olympiacos capitalised. Their opening goal was a wonderful thing, Chiquinho bashing home from 20 yards.
But the Madrid response was absurd. Mbappe scored his first after 22 minutes, running onto a ridiculous trivela pass from Vinicius and finishing through the keeper's legs. He added a second with a fine header, and a third with a simple run in behind the defence and pass into the bottom corner.
And then they started to pile on. Vinicius might have made it four after 30 minutes - a much needed moment after a week of controversy. But his fine effort was ruled off for an offside in the build up. Olympiacos offered a response in the second half, though. A simple cross floated between Madrid's centre-backs was all they needed when Mehdi Taremi rose to nod into the bottom corner. They almost had another soon after, but reserve goalkeeper Andriy Lunin produced an impressive stop. Mbappe gave Los Blancos daylight, though. Vinicius, in truth, did most of the work, with a lovely winding run down the left. Mbappe only had to convert his cut-back.
Olympiacos showed some fight. They bagged a much-deserved third after applying plenty of pressure, and peppered the Madrid goal down the stretch. However, Los Blancos held on to secure all three points.
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